title: Trapezius muscle load, heart rate and time pressure during day and night shift in Swiss and Japanese nurses.
abstract: The aim of the present study was to analyze the activity of the trapezius muscle, the heart rate and the time pressure of Swiss and Japanese nurses during day and night shifts. The parameters were measured during a day and a night shift of 17 Swiss and 22 Japanese nurses. The observed rest time of the trapezius muscle was longer for Swiss than for Japanese nurses during both shifts. The 10th and the 50th percentile of the trapezius muscle activity showed a different effect for Swiss than for Japanese nurses. It was higher during the day shift of Swiss nurses and higher during the night shift of Japanese nurses. Heart rate was higher for both Swiss and Japanese nurses during the day. The time pressure was significantly higher for Japanese than for Swiss nurses. Over the duration of the shifts, time pressure increased for Japanese nurses and slightly decreased for those from Switzerland. Considering trapezius muscle activity and time pressure, the nursing profession was more burdening for the examined Japanese nurses than for Swiss nurses. In particular, the night shift for Japanese nurses was characterized by a high trapezius muscle activity and only few rest times for the trapezius muscle.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Sciences and Technology, ETH Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Corinne
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Nicoletti
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Müller
authors.forename: Itoko
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Tobita
authors.forename: Masaru
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nakaseko
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Läubli
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D004576:Electromyography; D005260:Female; D006339:Heart Rate; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D018670:Monitoring, Ambulatory; D009741:Nursing Staff, Hospital; D064171:Superficial Back Muscles / Q000502:physiology*; D013557:Switzerland; D013997:Time Factors; D014940:Work Schedule Tolerance / Q000502:physiology*; D016526:Workload; D055815:Young Adult