title: Musculoskeletal disorder risk assessment in home care nurses.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Nurses constitute a professional group associated with a high risk of work related musculoskeletal disorders (WRMSDs). Several studies concerning to nurses reveal that they have high prevalence rates of injuries and also of symptoms associated to WRMSDs, mainly in the back. Tasks involving patient handling are those which most often arise associated to back pain. There is a scarcity of studies on WRMSDs in home care nurses.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  Based on these concerns, the main goals of the present study were to identify the main risk factors of WRMSDs for home care nurses and to perform an objective assessment of the risk for these professionals.
  
  
  METHODS
  Two methods to quantify the risk of WRMSDs associated with nursing activities were applied: REBA - Rapid Entire Body Assessment and MAC - Manual Handling Assessment Charts. REBA and MAC methods were applied to patient handling activities and to tasks involving manual material handling, respectively.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The results indicate the presence of multiple risk factors and their important contribution to the risk level obtained: generally moderate but considered high for some activities.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Home care nursing has specific characteristics, which clearly influence the adoption of risk behaviors by the nurses.
authors.affiliation: CGIT, Research Centre for Industrial Technology and Management, School of Engineering, University of Minho, Guimarães, Portugal.
authors.forename: Paula
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Carneiro
authors.affiliation: ACES Cávado III Barcelos/Esposende, Barcelos, Portugal.
authors.forename: Joana
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Martins
authors.affiliation: Hospital of Braga, Braga, Portugal.
authors.forename: Madalena
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Torres
mesh_terms: D006699:Home Care Services; D064650:Home Health Nursing / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D055805:Moving and Lifting Patients; D009140:Musculoskeletal Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology*; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology*; D011187:Posture; D018570:Risk Assessment / Q000379:methods; D012307:Risk Factors
keywords: Home healthcare; nursing; patient handling; working conditions