Musculoskeletal Disorders, Occupational Injuries
Conditions
Brief summary
Epidemiological studies have shown that patient transfer is a risk factor for back pain, back injuries and long term sickness absence, whereas consistent use of assistive devices during patient transfer is associated with reduced risk of back injury. In consequence, Danish hospitals have made great efforts to increase knowledge, availability and use of assistive devices to reduce work-related physical strain due to patient transfer. Yet, a recent survey among more than 300 nurses and nurses' aides showed that two thirds rarely uses assistive devices during patient transfer. Thus it seems relevant to investigate barriers, opportunities and practical solutions for increasing use of assistive devices among healthcare workers. The purpose of this study is to evaluate a participatory organizational intervention for improved use of assistive devices during patient transfer.
Interventions
BEHAVIORALParticipatory Organizational Intervention
Sponsors
Aalborg University
National Research Centre for the Working Environment, Denmark
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
PREVENTION
Masking
SINGLE (Outcomes Assessor)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to 70 Years
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
At the department level: Hospital departments with frequent patient handling will be eligible for participation in the cluster-randomized study. At the individual level (questionnaire replies): Inclusion Criteria: * Healthcare workers with daily patient handling (based on questionnaire reply at baseline)
Exclusion criteria
* None
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Use of assistive devices (push-button) | Average use during the entire 1-year follow-up (i.e. continous measurement during 1 year) adjusted for use during 4 weeks prior to the intervention (baseline) | The healthcare workers are encouraged to push one of the following two buttons every time they leave the room after having performed patient transfer; button 1 Press this button if you used the necessary assistive devices for your patient transfer and button 2 Press this button if you did not use the necessary assistive devices for your patient transfer. The number of Button 1 counts as a percentage of total counts (Button 1+2) will be calculated for set of counters and used as primary outcome. |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Pain intensity (VAS scale) | change from baseline to 1-year follow-up | Pain intensity in the low-back is rated subjectively using a 0-10 modified VAS scale, where 0 indicates no pain at all and 10 indicate worst pain imaginable |
| Perceived physical exertion (Borg CR10 scale) | change from baseline to 1-year follow-up | Perceived physical exertion during patient handling. Borg CR10 scale |
| Back injury | change from baseline to 1-year follow-up | The specific question reads: Have you within the last 12 months injured your back during patient transfer? (Think of situation where the pain appeared suddenly and unexpectedly). The respondent replies yes or no |
| Work ability (Index questionnaire) | change from baseline to 1-year follow-up | The full Work Ability Index questionnaire (Ilmarinen) |
| Use of assistive devices (accelerometer) | change from baseline to 1-year follow-up | Accelerometers will be placed on the assistive devices. The method is currently being validated in the laboratory and will be finalized before initiation of the 1 year follow-up measurement. Accelerations of a certain time frame will be defined as use, whereas brief accelerations will be considered as noise |
| Knowledge (Questionnaire) | change from baseline to 1-year follow-up | Specific questionnaire about knowledge about patients transfer and safety at work |
| Organizational Readiness to Change (Questionnaire) | change from baseline to 1-year follow-up | Questionnaire about Organizational Readiness to Change |
| Use of assistive devices (Questionnaire) | change from baseline to 1-year follow-up | Questionnaire about frequency of use of the different types of assistive devices |
| Social capital (Questionnaire) | change from baseline to 1-year follow-up | Questionnaire concerning bonding, bridging, linking A, and linking B social capital (Andersen LL 2015 Scandinavian Journal of Public Health) |
Countries
Denmark
Outcome results
None listed