Musculoskeletal Diseases and potential risk factors among hospital personnel handling patients

The purpose of the study was to identify risk factors of musculoskeletal diseases, in procedures carried out by personnel of six groups (n = 78) handling patients in extra and intrahospitalary tasks. A descriptive cross—sectional study was designed. It was investigated the prevalence of musculoskeletal diseases (MD), physical condition, physical work load, biomechanical and organizational demands. The prevalence of MD ranged from 14.3% to 36.4%. The means of cardiovascular work load to the six groups were between 22.3% and 27.1%. In the tasks of greater biomechanical demand, the pick compression and shear forces ranged between 3.5 kN to 5.6 kN and 0.35 kN to 0.81 kN, respectively. The perception of pressure at work was the only aspect of organization that showed significant statistical association with prevalence of MD (r = 0.83). The results of the study, confirm the multi-factor character of the musculoskeletal diseases. In the activities analyzed, it was found that the potential factors of risk of MD were related to biomechanical variables, organization of the work, equipment, infrastructure and personal characteristics.