✅ There was a significant relationship only between stress and musculoskeletal damage. By modifying and eliminating stressors in emergency personnel’s routines, by holding workshops on ergonomic principles as well as stress reduction principles, it is possible to reduce the physical disorders of emergency personnel.
Emergency medical staff who are at the forefront of health care delivery face many occupational stresses that have psychological, physical, behavioral, and organizational consequences for them, including musculoskeletal disorders. The purpose of this study was to investigate the correlation between musculoskeletal injuries and stress load tolerance among medical emergency staffs in Hamedan province.
In this descriptive-correlational study, conducted in 2019, 76 (40%) of urban and 114 (60%) of employees of road bases were selected from among emergency medical staff of Hamadan, Iran. Data were collected using Nordic Musculoskeletal Injury Questionnaire and Occupational Stress Questionnaire. Data were analyzed by SPSS 23 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, Ill., USA) using descriptive statistics, t-test and Spearman correlation coefficient.
The mean age of the participants was 34.05 (± 8.11) years and the work experience was 123.42 (±84.22) months. The majority (77%) were married, 57.3% had undergraduate degrees and 46.9% had formal employment. Employee stress burden was 503.3 (161.23%) out of 1050 points. Persons who had musculoskeletal disorder due to their job had reported more stress than others; hoever, this difference was not significant (P<0.05). People with musculoskeletal disorders in neck reported higher stress load (P<0.05) than others which was not significant. There was a significant relationship between type of employment, work experience, and type of exercise with musculoskeletal disorders (P<0.05).
Variable | N | Minimum | Maximum | Mean | Standard Deviation |
Age (years) | 176 | 20 | 60 | 34.05 | 8.11 |
Height (cm) | 179 | 160 | 195 | 170.69 | 6.01 |
Weight (kg) | 177 | 58 | 105 | 78.69 | 10.36 |
Work experience (months) | 179 | 26 | 343 | 123.42 | 84.22 |
Number of working hours per month | 171 | 12 | 280 | 175.33 | 16.82 |
Number of overtime hours per month | 164 | 0 | 350 | 143.21 | 49.13 |
Duration of leave in the last year due to musculoskeletal pain or discomfort (days) | 41 | 1 | 80 | 15.56 | 20.24 |
How long ago was the leave due to pain or discomfort? (Month) | 36 | 1 | 120 | 22.25 | 26.19 |
Variable | Variable levels | N | % |
Marital status |
Single | 41 | 23 |
Married | 137 | 77 | |
Number of children |
0 | 70 | 51.1 |
1 | 40 | 29.2 | |
2 | 20 | 14.6 | |
3 and 4 | 7 | 5.1 | |
Education rate |
Associate degree | 58 | 32.6 |
Bachelor’s degree | 102 | 57.3 | |
Master and above | 18 | 10.2 | |
Employment status |
Design | 21 | 12 |
Official | 82 | 46.9 | |
Project-based | 49 | 28 | |
Contractual | 23 | 13.1 | |
Smoking |
Yes | 15 | 9 |
No | 163 | 91 | |
Doing exercise |
Yes - regular | 30 | 16.9 |
Yes- Irregular | 119 | 67.2 | |
No | 28 | 15.8 | |
Type of sport | Aerobic | 91 | 5/76 |
Anaerobic | 28 | 5/23 |
Factors | Intensity of exposure | Exposure rate | Stress load |
SD± M | |||
Individual factors | 4.73 ± 23.08 | 5.01 ± 21.03 | 28.15 ± 75.18 |
Interpersonal factors and colleagues | 6.25 ± 27.69 | 6.25 ± 26.69 | 37.23 ± 90.48 |
Management and support factors | 5.65 ± 22.62 | 5.35 ± 22.25 | 33.88 ± 78.07 |
Environmental and occupational conditions | 8.86 ± 51.57 | 8.50 ± 45.64 | 58.45 ± 187.44 |
Patient-related factors | 4.33 ± 23.11 | 4.31 ± 18.47 | 25.86 ± 73.20 |
Total | 25.43 ± 148.08 | 25.26 ± 133.72 | 161.23 ± 503.03 |
Variables | Musculoskeletal pain and discomfort | t-test | P-value | |
No | Yes | |||
Age (years) | 30.40 ± 6.15 | 34.39 ± 6.15 | t=-1.83 | 0.069 |
Height (cm) | 176.68 ± 6.66 | 177.80 ± 5.95 | t=-0.70 | 0.482 |
Weight (kg) | 80.69 ± 8.98 | 78.49 ± 10.49 | t=0.81 | 0.421 |
Work experience (months) | 87.67 ± 65.60 | 135.65 ± 84.78 | t=-2.20 | 0.029 |
Duration of employment (months) | 82.57 ± 58.02 | 127.48 ± 81.05 | t=-2.20 | 0.039 |
Number of working hours required | 176.07 ± 4.13 | 175.25 ± 17.56 | t=0.18 | 0.859 |
Number of overtime hours | 137.67 ± 54.86 | 143.77 ± 48.6 | t=-0.46 | 0.648 |
Exercise duration (hours) | 1.32 ± 0.87 | 2.39 ± 9.99 | t=-0.37 | 0.712 |
Variable | Variable levels | N | SD ± M | Test result |
Musculoskeletal system damage | No | 49 | 486.57 ± 151.59 | t =-0.84 P=0.403 |
Yes | 130 | 509.24 ± 164.86 | ||
Nervous system damage | No | 111 | 469.01 ± 148.85 | t =-3.74 P<0.001 |
Yes | 68 | 558.57 ± 166.26 | ||
Gastrointestinal damage | No | 115 | 474.83 ± 160.15 | t =-3.22 P=0.002 |
Yes | 64 | 553.70 ± 151.57 | ||
Cardiovascular system damage | No | 161 | 489.13 ± 153.28 | t =-3.56 P<0.001 |
Yes | 18 | 627.39 ± 181.25 | ||
Excretion of the excretory system | No | 165 | 494.59 ± 156.08 | t =-2.44 P=0.016 |
Yes | 14 | 602.50 ± 192.51 | ||
Damage to the skin and hair system | No | 149 | 492.29 ± 162.42 | t =-2.00 P=0.047 |
Yes | 30 | 556.37 ± 146.29 | ||
Sexual system damage | No | 171 | 500.44 ±161.11 | t =-0.99 P=0.321 |
Yes | 8 | 558.501 ± 64.48 |
Variable | Variable levels | N | The amount of stress load | |
M±SD | Test results | |||
Musculoskeletal pain or discomfort due to occupation | Yes | 163 | 162.47 ± 504.32 | t=0.34 P=0.735 |
No | 16 | 152.34 ± 489.94 | ||
Pain or discomfort in the neck area | Yes | 27 | 160.42 ± 562.81 | t=-2.13 P=0.035 |
No | 151 | 159.87 ± 491.79 | ||
Pain or discomfort in the arm area | Yes | 54 | 162.24 ± 531.35 | t=-1.56 P=0.122 |
No | 121 | 161.98 ± 490.09 | ||
Pain or discomfort in the legs | Yes | 95 | 146.48 ± 514.63 | t=-0.97 P=0.334 |
No | 81 | 177.69 ± 490.94 | ||
Pain or discomfort in the spine | Yes | 142 | 163.26 ± 504.68 | t=-0.35 P=0.730 |
No | 36 | 156.63 ± 494.22 |
Based on the obtained results, the staff stress load was 503.03 (±161.23) out of 1050 possible scores. Due to the use of different tools to measure the job stress of medical staff, including emergency personnel, comparing the prevalence of stress obtained in different studies is limited. In the obtained results, the highest average reported stress of employees in the amount and severity of stress was related to environmental and occupational conditions. In the present study, the level of job stress of employees was at the average score level. The results of the present study were consistent with the results of the study of Moshtagh et al. [8].
In the continuation of the results of this study, all employees who were associated with musculoskeletal disorders due to their jobs, expressed some more stress than others, but this difference was not significant (P <0.05). Only people with musculoskeletal disorders in the neck had a higher stress load than others (P <0.05).
The results of the present study on the relationship between work history with musculoskeletal disorders were consistent with the study of Davis and Kotowski, who examined the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders in nurses of hospitals, long-term care centers and home health care. In this study, it was stated that with increasing work experience, the probability of musculoskeletal disorders has increased. Although the target group is different in the above study and the present study, it seems that with increasing working years and decreased physical strength, the probability of musculoskeletal disorders is higher [35].
There was a significant relationship only between stress and musculoskeletal damage. By modifying and eliminating stressors in emergency personnel’s routines, by holding workshops on ergonomic principles as well as stress reduction principles, it is possible to reduce the physical disorders of emergency personnel.
Noun
The authors declared no conflict of interest.
Rights and permissions | |
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. |