Factors associated with staff injuries in intermediate care facilities in British Columbia, Canada.
BACKGROUND
Large variations in staff injury rates across intermediate care facilities suggest that injuries may be driven by facility-specific work environment factors.


OBJECTIVE
To identify work organization, psychosocial, and biomechanical factors associated with staff injuries in intermediate care facilities, to pinpoint management practices that may contribute to lower staff injuries, and to generate a provisional conceptual framework of work organization characteristics.


METHODS
Four representative intermediate care facilities with high staff injury rates and four facilities with comparable low staff injury rates were selected from Workers' Compensation Board (WCB) databases. Methods included on-site injury data collection and review of associated WCB data, ergonomic study of workloads, a telephone survey of resident care staff, manager-staff interviews, and focus groups. Pearson product-moment correlation coefficients identified associations between variables. Analysis of variance and t tests were used to determine differences between low and high staff injury rate facilities. Content analysis guided the qualitative analysis.


RESULTS
There were no significant differences between low and high staff injury rate facilities in terms of workers' characteristics, residents' characteristics, and per capita public funding. The ergonomic study supported the survey data in demonstrating a relation among low staffing levels, greater muscle loading, and greater risk of injury. As compared with facilities that had high staff injury rates, facilities with low staff injury rates had significantly more favorable staffing levels and supportive work environments. Perceived quality of care was strongly correlated with burnout, health, and satisfaction.


CONCLUSIONS
Safer work environments are promoted by favorable staffing levels, convenient access to mechanical lifts, workers' perceptions of employer fairness, and management practices that support the caregiving role.
Yassi
Annalee
A
Occupational Health and Safety Agency for Healthcare, and Institute of Health Promotion Research, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia. AnnaleeY@aol.com
Cohen
Marcy
M
Cvitkovich
Yuri
Y
Park
Il Hyoek
IH
Ratner
Pamela A
PA
Ostry
Aleck S
AS
Village
Judy
J
Polla
Nancy
N
D000488:Allied Health Personnel / Q000523:psychology*; D001955:British Columbia / Q000453:epidemiology; D002055:Burnout, Professional; D003625:Data Collection; D006801:Humans; D007380:Intermediate Care Facilities / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D007588:Job Satisfaction; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology