Health status of clinical nurses and correlation factors with occupational low back pain

Abstract

Objective To investigate the health status of clinical nurses and nurses with occupational low back pain (OLBP) and its influencing factors. Methods Using convenience sampling method, 1 279 clinical nurses from 7 ClassⅢ Grade A hospitals in 6 cities of China were investigated by using Chinese Version of Roland-Morris Disability Questionnaire (CRMDQ) , the MOS Item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36) and Visual Assimilation Scale (VAS) from April to October 2016 to understand the health status of nurses with OLBP and the related influencing factors. By comparing with the domestic norms, the health status of nurses with OLBP and the influence of different demographic characteristics on the health status of nurses with OLBP were analyzed, and the correlation between the functional disorders and health status of nurses with OLBP was analyzed. Results The incidence of low back pain in clinical nurses was 91.0% (1 164/1 279) , and the scores of each dimensions of health status were lower than the national norm (n=8 448) . Nine factors, such as sex, age, marital status, fertility status, working life, department, night shift frequency, pain degree and pain frequency, can affect the health status of nurses with low back pain in varying degrees. The nurses with low back pain got the total score of (41.60±5.72) from the CRMDQ and the scores of the 8 dimensions in SF-36 were all lower than the national norm, with statistical differences (P<0.01) . The results of correlation analysis showed that nurses' lumbar vertebral dysfunction was negatively correlated with all dimensions of health status (P < 0.01) . Conclusions The factors influencing the health status of nurses with low back pain include many aspects. It is suggested to improve the occupational environment, strengthen occupational protection, prevent and alleviate the OLBP of nurses, so as to improve the health status of clinical nurses. Key words: Nurse; Investigation; Occupational low back pain; Health status