Abstract
the aim was to evaluate the association between the intensity of musculoskeletal pain and reduction in work ability among nursing workers. a cross-sectional study, involving 592 nursing staff in a public university hospital in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. The Brazilian version of the Finnish questionnaire for calculating Work Ability Index was used, whose score varies from 7 to 49 points. The score was dichotomized as reduced work ability (7 to 36 points) and good/excellent ability (37 to 49 points). The intensity of musculoskeletal pain over the previous week was evaluated, using a numerical pain scale. 43.3% of the participants had reduced work ability and 48.8% reported strong to unbearable pain. Even after adjusting for potentially confounding factors (function and length of service in the function), the workers who mentioned strong to unbearable pain were four times more likely to be classified in the group with reduced work ability. A positive association was determined between intensity of musculoskeletal pain and reduction in work ability. It is necessary to adopt intervention measures in the organizational structure, so as to promote/restore work ability.
Highlights
Musculoskeletal disorders determine a set of signs and symptoms which may be concurrent, which may begin insidiously and develop rapidly in the absence of changes in the work conditions[1]
In spite of the high physical and mental demands resulting from the unhealthy hospital environment and in spite of the high percentage of workers with musculoskeletal pain (MSP), a larger number of workers have good work ability, which may indicate the existence of other factors, not measured in this study, which interfered positively in the Work Ability Index (WAI)
A study with nursing workers from the emergency sector ascertained that 28.6% of the workers with moderate, good or excellent WAI had a greater frequency of medical diagnosis of musculoskeletal illness[8]. These findings indicate that MSP is a reality present in the everyday, even for nursing workers classified as having good work ability
Summary
Musculoskeletal disorders determine a set of signs and symptoms (pain, discomfort, paresthesia, sensation of heaviness, fatigue, limitation of movement and inability to work) which may be concurrent, which may begin insidiously and develop rapidly in the absence of changes in the work conditions[1]. These constitute an important public health problem in various industrialized countries and affect workers from a variety of professions[1], including Nursing[2,3,4,5,6]. It was hypothesized that the intensity of the MSP could be directly implicated in reducing work ability among nursing professionals
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