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| The
Occupational Safety and Health Administration has
estimated that nearly half of all health service
workers will experience at least one work-related
musculoskeletal disorder during their careers. Experts
say about 38 percent of nurses have suffered back
pain severe enough to require leave from work and
12 percent are considering an exit from the profession
because of back pain. |
When Anne Hudson, RN, suffered an injury to the lumbar
region of her lower back while working in an Oregon
hospital in 2000, one of the first things she did was
attempt to gather information. She wanted advice, descriptions
of health products, perhaps even a sympathetic ear.
But when she fired up her modem, she found no chat rooms
or Web sites devoted to the subject.
So Hudson turned to the American Nurses Association,
then to the Oregon Nurses Association. Neither offered
to help her personally, although the ANA did direct
her to some important literature on the subject.
What she read eventually helped Hudson metamorphose
from a victim to an advocate. She found ample evidence
of the back injury risks faced by nurses and plenty
of suggestions for improvement. But nobody seemed to
be doing much about the situation.
Even worse, she discovered that many nurses were effectively
being forced out of the industry because few hospitals
offer permanent light duty.
"We've lost 2,000 RNs just in Oregon since 1993,"
Hudson said, citing the Bureau of Labor Statistics for
accepted workers' compensation claims for disability.
"Where are these nurses? No one knows. No one's
tracking them."
Judged by any rational measure, nursing is hard on
the back. According to the bureau, six of the 10 jobs
at highest risk for back injuries are in health care.
Nurses aides are the most vertebrally challenged in
the land, and only construction workers and garbage
collectors have it worse than LVNs. RNs rank sixth,
right behind truck drivers.
Here are some more numbers likely to get you reaching
for your lower back: The Occupational Safety and Health
Administration has estimated that nearly half of all
health service workers will experience at least one
work-related musculoskeletal disorder during their careers.
Bernice Owen, Ph.D., RN, who has written extensively
on the subject, said 38 percent of nurses have suffered
back pain severe enough to require leave from work,
and that 12 percent are considering an exit from the
profession because of back pain.
"The effect is cumulative," said Kevin Byrne,
president of CorpMed.com, a company that produces a
computer-based, OSHA-approved ergonomics clinic (worth
9.6 hours of continuing education credit). "You
think you don't have back pain, but the wear and tear
is there. It may be subclinical. Sooner or later, something
gives."
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