Low Back Pain and Patients Lifting Behaviors Among Nurses Working In Prince Abdel Rahman Al Sadairy Hospital. Saudi Arabia

Background: Nurses are among the occupational groups within the health service that are vulnerable to low back pain (LBP). It has been shown that 60–80% of the general population suffers from LBP at some time during their lives. Among nurses the lifetime prevalence was found to be slightly higher, varying between 56% and 90%.LBP can lead to persistent medical problems, disability, productivity losses, and job changes. Nurses work in a dynamic environment. They need to determine the most appropriate methods for performing patient care tasks, taking into consideration task and patient characteristics while reducing LBP. Nurses frequently have to lift or transfer patients who may move suddenly and carry out repetitive procedures with incorrect or poor body posture, which subsequently cause LBP..Low back pain (LBP) among nurses has been the subject of research studies worldwide. However, evidence of the influence of patients lifting behaviors and LBP among nurses in Saudi Arabia remains scarce. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between LBP and patients lifting behaviors. Subjects and methods: LBP questionnaire was distributed to 100 nurses working in Al sadairy Hospital distributed as Emergency unit(9),Coronary Care unit (9), Intensive Care Unit (7), Dialysis unit (30 ), Burn unit (5), surgical unit (11) , Medical (14 ) and , X-ray unit (15). The questionnaire included demographic data, attitude scale, Team work scale, Back pain history and Knowledge scale. Results: Regarding to emergency unit, there is appositive significant relation between teamwork scale and Knowledge as r = (0.807) and P =0.05. Regarding to ICU unit, there is a positive significant relation between teamwork scale and attitude scale as r= (0.781) and P =0.05. Regarding to Dialysis unit, there is a positive significant relation between attitude scale and teamwork scale as r = (0.443) and P =0.05. Conclusion: The findings suggest enhanced awareness of occupational safety with safe patient handling practices among nursing students must be emphasized and integrated into their educational curriculum. Moreover, back pain prevention program should incorporate the promotion of an active lifestyle and fitness training the implementation of institutional patient handling policies.