Prevalence, Knowledge, and Preventive Practice of Work-related Musculoskeletal Disorders among Nursing Undergraduates of University of Ruhuna

Abstract

Background: Work-related Musculoskeletal disorders (WMSD) are common among nurses. Nursing undergraduates are not competent enough in safe- patient handling while maintaining the correct body techniques. Studies in this area are effective to reduce the occurrence of WMSD among future nursing cadre enabling them to continue optimum patient care. Objectives: To evaluate the prevalence, knowledge, and preventive practice on WMSD among nursing undergraduates of University of Ruhuna (UoR) Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among the all-registered nursing undergraduates of 3rd and 4th year (n=95) in Nursing Degree Programme, Faculty of Allied Health Sciences, UoR during July to August 2022 using a pre-tested, self-administered questionnaire. The questionnaire consisted of few sections including Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire (to screen for musculoskeletal pain in last 12 months), 07 questions to evaluate the knowledge (high; 6-7, moderate; 3–5, low; 0–2), 08 questions to assess the preventive practices (optimum; 17-24, moderate; 9-16, low; 0-8). The data were analyzed with SPSS version 25.0 with descriptive statistics and Chi-squared test. Results: The majority (96.8%, n=92) of undergraduates were suffering from WMSDs during last 12 months. Of the sample, 67(70.5%) nursing undergraduates reported ankles/feet pain after the working hours of clinical placements. A least had complained (n=5, 5.3%) of having pain in elbows. Age, gender, academic year, nationality and body mass index had no association with the prevalence of WMSDs among nursing students (p>0.05). The majority of students (n=62, 65.3%) had high level of knowledge regarding the WMSDs while a least (n=5, 5.3%) had low level of knowledge. Of the participants, 51.6% had low, 41.1% had moderate levels of preventive practices while only a few had optimum level (7.4%) of practices. Prevalence of WMSDs had no significant associations with either level of knowledge (p=0.43) or levels of practices (p=0.63). Conclusions: A high prevalence of WMSDs was reported among the study group. Even though students had high level of knowledge regarding the WMSDs, they do not practice proper techniques to reduce the WMSDs. Keywords: Knowledge, Nursing students, Prevalence, Preventive practices, Work related musculoskeletal disorders 49