Back Stress Isn't Part of the Job

Abstract

Lifting and transferring patients takes a heavy toll: Nurses have been ranked fifth among all workers nationally filing compensation claims for back injury(l). And even that estimate may be low. A 1989 study found that only one-third of those nurses who said they had episodes of occupation-related back problems (63 out of 189) actually filed an incident report; most accepted back pain as part of the job and took sick days(2). Commonly, health-care-facility managers have relied on education in back care and lifting techniques to help prevent back injuries. There is no evidence, however, that this approach by itself does any good. Equally or more important is an ergonomic approach-that is, altering the design of the workplace or the job to fit the worker. Under a contract from the National