Ergonomic evaluation in community pharmacies

Abstract

Abstract Background The risk of a health professional contracting work-related diseases is about 1.5 times greater than the risk of all other workers. For this reason, the present study focused on community pharmacies, aiming ergonomic risks, which allows a more personalized intervention individualized in an assessment and control of ergonomic risks. Methods We proposed as an objective of this study, to evaluate the ergonomic risks to which the workers of the community pharmacies are exposed. This study was of the Descriptive-Correlational, Analytical type, and of a transversal nature where the working conditions in pharmacies of the municipality of Coimbra were evaluated. The sample being represented by 15 workers. A questionnaire was carried out and the KIM and RULA methodologies were applied for ergonomic evaluation. The results were evaluated using the IBM SPSS Statistics version 26.0 program using descriptive tests and inference tests. Results The ergonomic assessment indicated greater risk of exposure in the task of replacing goods, the perception of workers proved to be positive in relation to existing non-conformities. There were no statistically significant differences in psychosocial and ergonomic risks between men and women. Conclusion The ergonomic conditions of the workplace for the professionals in community pharmacies are unfavourable in some points. However, if they try to adapt the workplace to the worker considering ergonomic aspects, they will promote well-being and thus guarantee better performance for their professionals and consequent increase in productivity