Prevalence of Work-Related Musculoskeletal Disorders among Nurses in Kakamega County, Kenya

The objective of the study was to establish the prevalence of work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WRMSD) on nurses’ productivity in Kakamega County. The study was a descriptive cross-sectional study and quantitative methods were adopted. The study was carried out in hospitals in Kakamega county Kenya. A self-administered questionnaire (The standardized Nordic questionnaire) was used to gather information from randomly selected nurses (n = 130). Data were presented using descriptive statistics in the form of frequencies and percentages for categorical variables and means and standard deviations for quantitative variables. The Chi-square test of independence analysis was used for the assessment of quantitative variable interrelationships. Significance was considered at p ≤ 0.05. Sociodemographic data and prevalence of work-related musculoskeletal disorders. The majority of nurses were female (76.9%). The average age of the nurses was 35 years and a standard deviation of 8.076 (35 ± 8.07). The majority of nurses was above forty years old (40%) and had a time of employment of between one to five years (49%). The prevalence of body pains investigated was 70.8% in total, 53.8% of the nurses had experienced pain in their necks, 47.7% of the nurses in this study admitted to having experienced pain in their upper back, 38.5% of the nurses agreed that they had pain in both of their hips, thighs or buttocks, 48.5% experienced pain in both of their ankles and feet. The highest prevalence of 12 months period of WMSD in nurses according to body sites in this study was the low back (79.9%), followed by the neck (53.8%), then ankles/feet (48.5%), upper back (47.7%), wrist/hands (46.9%), buttocks and elbow (38.5%) and (30.8%), respectively. Analysis of the region of the body and the pains using the Chi-square test shows that there was a statistically significant association (p < 0.05). All the p-values are 0.00 showing that there is a strong relationship between all the pains and the effects on work performance among the nurses in the study. The study concludes that over seventy percent of nurses took part in the study reported cases of WRMSD at any of the body parts in the 12 months prevalence. The study recommends changing their working technique, using lifting equipment, interchanging tasks regularly, reducing the excessive number of patients treated in one day, taking breaks, and avoiding awkward cramp positions, repetitive work and strenuous tasks.