title: Musculoskeletal disorders among nursing staff: a comparison of five hospitals in Uganda.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Low and middle income countries have severe nursing staff shortages which is associated with risk of poor quality of patient care and increased patient exposure to adverse events. This is accompanied with increased risk of musculoskeletal disorders to the nursing staff. This paper sets out to identify and compare factors associated with musculoskeletal disorders among nursing staff in 5 different hospitals in Uganda.
  
  
  METHODS
  This was a cross sectional study on nurses from 5 different hospitals in Uganda. The study used a 12 month recall of reported Musculoskeletal disorders (MSD) among nurses. Ethical approval was obtained. Logistic regression analysis and ANOVA were used. The level of significance was set at 0.05 for all statistical tests.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were 755 respondents of whom 433 (58.4%) were nurses. The prevalence of MSD at anybody site was 80.8%. There were significant differences in reported MSD among nursing staff across different hospital settings which were worse in the public hospitals as compared to the private and private not for profit hospitals (p <0.001). Age (adjusted OR 1.03, 95% CI 1.01-1.06), self reported poor general health status (adj OR 4.5, 95% CI 2.8-7.24) and stress as suggested by waking up tired in the morning (adj OR 3.4, 95% CI 2.17-5.32) were significant associated factors for MSD in this population.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Reported MSD among nursing staff across 5 different hospitals is worse in public as compared to private hospitals. Age, self reported poor general health status and stress were important factors for MSD in this population.
authors.affiliation: Anatomy Department, School of Biomedical Sciences, Makerere University College of Health Sciences, Uganda.
authors.forename: Ian Guyton
authors.initials: IG
authors.lastname: Munabi
authors.affiliation: Anatomy Department, School of Biomedical Sciences, Makerere University College of Health Sciences, Uganda.
authors.forename: William
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Buwembo
authors.affiliation: Surgery Department, Gulu University, Uganda.
authors.forename: David Lagoro
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Kitara
authors.affiliation: Anatomy Department, School of Biomedical Sciences, Makerere University College of Health Sciences, Uganda.
authors.forename: Joseph
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ochieng
authors.affiliation: Department of Nursing, School of Medicine, Makerere University College of Health Sciences, Uganda.
authors.forename: Rose Chalo
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Nabirye
authors.affiliation: Anatomy Department, School of Biomedical Sciences, Makerere University College of Health Sciences, Uganda.
authors.forename: Erisa Sabakaki
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Mwaka
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006761:Hospitals; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009140:Musculoskeletal Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology*; D009726:Nurses / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D009740:Nursing Staff / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015995:Prevalence; D014454:Uganda / Q000453:epidemiology; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Musculoskeletal disorders; Uganda; nurses; public and private hospitals