TITLE:
Nurses Awareness on Work Related Musculoskeletal Disorders in Kakamega County Kenya
AUTHORS:
Micky Olutende, Anthony Muchiri Wangui, David Kaniaru, Edwin Wamukoya
KEYWORDS:
Work Related Musculoskeletal Disorders, Nurses, Injuries, Occupational Health, Kakamega County, Kenya
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Access Library Journal,
Vol.9 No.4,
April
27,
2022
ABSTRACT: The objective of the study was to investigate nurses’ awareness of work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WRMSD) in Kakamega county. The study was a descriptive cross-sectional study and Quantitative methods were adopted. The study was carried out in hospitals in Kakamega county Kenya. A self-administered questionnaire was used to gather information from randomly selected nurses (n = 130). Data was presented using descriptive statistics in the form of frequencies and percentages for categorical variables and means and standard deviations for quantitative variables. Chi-square test of independence analysis was used for the assessment of quantitative variable interrelationships. Significance was considered at p ≤ 0.05. The main outcome measures were Sociodemographic data and awareness of work-related musculoskeletal disorders. The study showed that 76.9% of the nurses were female while 23.1% were males. The average age of the nurses was 35 years. The nurse’s awareness of WRMSD and its association with working for many years was high (51% and above). From the study 53.8% of the nurses worked for 6 - 8 hours in a day while 46.2% worked for more than 8 hours in a day. The findings also showed that 66.2% attended to more than 15 patients in a day. Analysis showed that there was no significant association (P = 0.40) between any age category and the gender as well as nursing profession. In addition, Chi square test showed that there was statistically significant association (p = 0.00) between the number of years in the profession and the frequency of the nurses per category of work experience. The study concluded that nurses in Kakamega county are moderately aware of work-related musculoskeletal disorders. The study recommends retraining and short courses to refresh nurses’ knowledge on WRMSD and best ways of prevention.