Lower Back Pain among Health Care Workers in Operating Room at Al- Fateh Children's Hospital: Prevalence and Risk Factors

Abstract

Lower back pain (LBP) is recognised as a cause of morbidity in the developed nations in different occupational situations specifically, in health care workers (HCWs) including physicians, nurses and technicians, who are vulnerable to LBP. About 60–80% of the general people suffer from LBP at some time during their lives. However, there is not enough care about workplace health and safety problems facing the health care workforce in developing nations such as Libya. Thus, work-related issues among health care workers (HCWs) in operating room at Al-Fateh Children's Hospital in Benghazi city, Libya are described in this study. Methods: Cross-sectional data were collected through a questionnaire that included four classes: work-related demographics, occupational injury/illness, reporting behaviour, and safety concerns. Results: The health care workers experience a higher prevalence of lower back pain (LBP) complaints (87%), due to no proper policy related to LBP, the job nature has exposed them to this health issue. Main contributing factors which can increase the risk exposure of LBP were age, occupation and lifting objects, equipment and patients. The main concerns were overload and work stress. Conclusion: In Libya, health care workers (HCWs) are considered as a critical health and safety concern, as a result of the weakness of policies in healthcare organisations. Thus, a proper no weight lifting policy should be considered. If not, proper manual lifting must be implemented.