Ergonomic Evaluation of Working Postures within Operating Room Staff and Nurses by Rapid Entire Body Assessment (REBA) in Ilam

The profession-related activities of nurses and operating room staff have many ergonomic risk factors. A lack of knowledge about the correct performance of these activities can cause musculoskeletal problems. The aim of this study was to investigate the ergonomic status of working postures among nurses and operating room staff in Ilam.

Methods and Materials:

 This descriptive-analytical study was conducted on nurses and operating room staff of three educational hospitals in Ilam in 2021. The prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders was investigated using the Nordic questionnaire and working postures were evaluated by the REBA method. P< 0.05 was regarded as the significant level.

Out of 115 studied staff with a mean age of 32.73±6.93 years, 47 cases were male (41٪). 83 subjects were nurses and 32 of them were operating room staff. In the past year, the most reported complaints were low back pain. Its prevalence in female and male nurses was 51.9٪ and 48.4٪, respectively. For operating room staff, shoulder pain was (86.7٪) in women and neck pain was (70.6٪) in men. The results showed that 43.37٪ of the nurses needed to take necessary corrective measures and 62.5٪ of the operating room staff needed immediate corrective measures.

The results showed that there is not any acceptable ergonomic status among the studied occupations. There were not any high musculoskeletal complaints due to the youth of the staff at the time of the study. However, with the continuation of their profession-related activities in the current non-standard way, musculoskeletal problems will be observed for these medical staff in the near future. Evaluation of the working postures of the staff showed that some interventions such as appropriate staff training, work breaks, and exercises are necessary.