Prevalence of work-related musculoskeletal disorders in nurses: integrative review

Abstract

Framework: nursing practice is related to activities that require constant and misaligned musculoskeletal solicitation as a consequence of the imbalance between the professional / equipment/patient, leading professionals to adopt incorrect and harmful postures to their own health. Objective: to know the prevalence of work-related musculoskeletal injuries (WRMSD) in nurses. Methodology: an integrative review was conducted with a search in Medline, SciELO and CINHAL databases, with the descriptors "nurses", "musculoskeletal diseases" and "prevalence", combined with the Boolean operator "AND", from prevalence studies published between 2012 and 2017. Of the 174 studies identified, 24 were included for review. Results: there is a high prevalence of WRMSD, ranging from 25 to 98%, especially lumbar spine injury. Conclusion: WRMSD has a negative impact on nurses' personal, professional and social life. Research in this area should be directed to the interpretation of causal factors and implementation of preventive / corrective measures and institutions’ capacitation for the importance of preventive, behavioural and ergonomic measures.