Abstract:
Background: Low back pain is a common musculoskeletal disorder affecting many nurses
in Sri Lanka, especially Intensive Care Unit (ICU) nurses. This has many negative
consequences both on the nurse and the patient. Low back pain reduces work efficiency and
work life satisfaction of nurses and sometimes leads to early retirement or even to high
turnover.
Objectives: To determine the prevalance and work-related factors of low back pain among
ICU nurses.
Methodology: Three hundred twenty nurses (93.3% females and 6.7% males) aged between
21-40 years with more than one year working experience in ICUs in the National Hospital of
Sri Lanka and De Soyza Hospital for Women were purposively recruited for this
quantitative descriptive study. Data were collected using self-administered questionnaires
and descriptive technique was performed for data analysis.
Results and conclusions: Prevalance of low back pain was 53.4% among the participants.
Duration of having low back pain for more than one year which originated following duties
was 54.6%. Only 9% of them were having back pain before they assumed duties in ICUs.
Majority of participants (64.7%) had to complete assigned tasks within a very limited time.
Lifting patient (37%), transferring a patient from bed to chair (11.8%), and positioning a
patient without any help (9.2%) were found to be the initiating factors of low back pain.
Working in insufficient work space (52.1%) and working more than 40 hours per week
(79.8%) were also identified. 37.8% participants were working under above conditions for
more than five years in ICU. Strenous duty schedule, incorrect working positions used for
lifting and positioning of patients, seem to be associated with low back pain among ICU
nurses. Furthermore, nurses are often exposed to poor work postures due to the
uncomfortable working condition and inappropriate materials. Other factors that might cause
low back pain should be further studied.
