Prevalence of work-related musculoskeletal and non-musculoskeletal injuries in health care workers: the implications for work disability management.

To compare the prevalence of musculoskeletal and non-musculoskeletal injuries in a cohort of workers in Manitoba health care sector, who made injury claims between 2002 and 2012. A retrospective study, using secondary data from WCB Manitoba. Logistic regression was used to determine odds ratios for nature of work-related injuries among different groups of workers. Idiopathic work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSD) constituted 74.6% of all the injury claims. Injury risks varied between worker groups, and a significant difference was found within the female group, χ2 = 13.4, p = 0.0094, but not among the males. Compared to the married, single workers were more likely to experience traumatic than idiopathic injuries (OR = 1.72, CI, 1.28, 2.29), and much higher risk of traumatic injuries than non-WMSD (OR = 1.93, CI, 1.31, 2.84). Work-related injury risks vary significantly across occupations and worker groups, with idiopathic injuries being higher in high physical tasks. Practitioner Summary: To compare musculoskeletal and non-musculoskeletal injuries among workers in health care sector, and explore the implications for work disability management. Retrospective study, using workers' compensation claims data. The risk of idiopathic work-related musculoskeletal disorders continue to be high compared to traumatic and non-musculoskeletal disorders, particularly in tasks that involved high physical activities.

Systematic Review of Prognostic Factors for Return to Work in Workers with Sub Acute and Chronic Low Back Pain.

Purpose We systematically reviewed the evidence on factors that predict duration of sick leave in workers after 6 weeks low back pain (LBP) related sick leave. We hypothesized that different factors affect the duration of the leave depending on the time away from work. Methods The review occurred in seven phases: (1) developing the central question, (2) conducting the literature search, (3) identifying relevant publications, (4) quality appraisal, (5) data extraction, (6) evidence synthesis, and (7) knowledge translation. We searched for studies that reported episodes of LBP and sick leave that lasted more than 6 weeks. All included studies reported at least one prognostic factor where return to work was the outcome. Results We identified twenty-two relevant publications. The impact of pain, functional status and radiating pain seems to change with duration of work disability. Workers' recovery expectations remain important after 6 weeks. Modified duties are rarely studied in later phases of work disability. Depression/mental health did not appear to be an important factor in later phases. Workplace physical factors remain important. There is insufficient evidence that pain catastrophising and fear avoidance are predictive factors in later phases. There was moderate evidence for age in the later phases. Functional capacity and claim related factors were supported by some evidence. Discusion Physical demands in the workplace are preventing workers from getting back to work in a timely fashion across phases. The psychosocial work environment is understudied in later phases. Overall, we cannot conclude that prognostic factors change over time.

Public awareness, risk perceptions and behaviour towards antibiotic use in food-producing animals and antimicrobial resistance in Malaysia: A cross-sectional study.

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a growing global public health problem, particularly in low- and middle-income countries, including Malaysia. Understanding risk perceptions on antimicrobial use (AMU) in food-producing animals from the general public perspective is an essential component in addressing AMR. However, little is known about public risk perceptions of AMU and AMR in food-producing animals in Malaysia. The objectives of this study were to assess the level of awareness, risk perceptions, and behaviour regarding antibiotic use in food-producing animals and antimicrobial resistance and to examine the factors associated with risk perceptions and the relationship between knowledge, awareness, risk perceptions and behaviour among the general public in Malaysia. A cross-sectional survey was used. Both descriptive and analytical statistics were used to analyse data and present results. Correlation and regression analyses were conducted to examine the factors associated with risk perceptions and the relationship between risk perceptions and behaviour. A total of 416 individuals participated in the study. The majority of the participants (69.2 %) had low knowledge of antibiotics and antibiotic use in food-producing animals. The levels of awareness of antibiotic use and the perceived route of antibiotic resistance transfer were moderate. Participants had a high level of general risk perception (GRP) of antibiotic use, a moderate level of personal-level risk perception (PRP) of antibiotic resistance transmission, and a high level of societal-level risk perception (SRP) of antibiotic resistance transmission. Awareness of antibiotic use was a significant predictor of GRP (ß = 0.27, 95 %CI: 0.12-0.31, P < 0.001). Awareness of route of resistance transfer was a significant predictor of PRP (ß = 0.54, 95 %CI: 0.32-0.44, P < 0.001) and SRP (ß = 0.47, 95 %CI: 0.32-0.46, P < 0.001). PRP is the only significant predictor of behavioural changes towards antibiotic use and antibiotic resistance (OR = 1.45 [1.02-2.07], P = 0.041). Overall, there is a general lack of knowledge and little awareness of antibiotic use and antibiotic resistance in food-producing animals in Malaysia. Risk perceptions were moderate to high and were significantly predicted by awareness of antibiotic use and route of resistance transfer. Personal-level risk perception was a significant predictor of behavioural changes aimed at reducing the risk of AMU and AMR. It is imperative to raise public awareness and understanding of the risks associated with AMU in food-producing animals. Risk communication should be emphasised to ensure the translation of public risk perceptions into behavioural changes.

Assessing nursing clinical skills competence through objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) for open distance learning students in Open University Malaysia.

BACKGROUND: The objective structured clinical skills examination (OSCE) has over the years emerged as a method of evaluating clinical skills in most medical and allied professions. Although its validity and objectivity has evoked so much debate in the literature, little has been written about its application in non-traditional education systems such as in distance learning. This study examined clinical skills competence among practising nursing students who were enrolled in a distance learning programme. The study examined the effect of work and years of nursing practice on nurses' clinical skills competence. METHODOLOGY: This study used observational design whereby nursing students' clinical skills were observed and scored in five OSCE stations. Two instruments were used for the data collection - A self-administered questionnaire on the students' bio-demographic data, and a check list on the clinical skills which the examiners rated on a four point scale. RESULTS: The findings revealed that 14% of the nurses had level four competence, which indicated that they could perform the tasks correctly and complete. However, 12% failed the OSCE, even though they had more than 10 years experience in nursing and post basic qualifications. Inter-rater reliability was 0.92 for the five examiners. Factor analysis indicated that five participant factors accounted for 74.1% of the variations in clinical skills performance. CONCLUSION: An OSCE is a necessary assessment tool that should be continuously applied in nursing education, regardless of the mode of the education program, the student's years of experience or his/her clinical placement. This study validates the need for OSCE in both the design of tertiary nursing degree programs and the assessment of nurses' clinical competency level.

Premenstrual dysphoric disorder: prevalence and effects on nursing students' academic performance and clinical training in Kuwait.

AIMS: This study investigated the prevalence of Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder among non-treatment seeking female students at the College of Nursing Kuwait. It also explored the effects of the disorder on their academic performance as shown by their grade point average and rate of absenteeism at clinical training. BACKGROUND: Many women worldwide are unaware of this distressing menstrual disorder which affects about 3-8% of women of childbearing age. The cyclical mood symptoms often appear during the last week prior to the onset of menstruation. These symptoms interfere with sufferers activities of daily living including occupational, biopsychosocial and sexual activities. DESIGN: A prospective observational study. METHODS: The study used an adapted Arabic version of Daily Record of Severity of Problem for two menstrual cycles to collect data from 110 nursing students. RESULT: Data analysis showed Cronbach's alpha coefficient for the adapted tool was 0·95. The rate of premenstrual dysphoric disorder was 5·6%. Hypotheses tested showed no significant effect on students' academic performance but a significant association with absenteeism at clinical training. CONCLUSION: The rate obtained in this study was similar to those from recent studies. Participants with high luteal scores believe that the condition have lowered their quality of life by making them choose to be in isolation during the period. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: Nursing students' absenteeism rate at clinical training is a predictor of their work absence pattern after qualification. Absenteeism due to premenstrual dysphoric disorder, a cyclic monthly disorder will be of monthly occurrences if sufferers do not sought medical treatment. Registered nurses absenteeism will not only result in shortage of trained nursing personnel, but also lowered standard of client care. It also has cost implications as temporary substitute staff may have to be employed during their period of absence or sick leave. This has implications for nursing management.

Empowerment, job satisfaction and organizational commitment: a comparative analysis of nurses working in Malaysia and England.

AIMS: To examine the relationships between nurses' empowerment, job satisfaction and organizational commitment in culturally and developmentally different societies. BACKGROUND: Employment and retention of sufficient and well-committed nursing staff are essential for providing safe and effective health care. In light of this, nursing leaders have been searching for ways to re-engineer the healthcare system particularly by providing an environment that is conducive to staff empowerment, job satisfaction and commitment. METHODS: This is a descriptive correlational survey of 556 registered nurses (RNs) in two teaching hospitals in England and Malaysia. RESULTS: Although the Malaysian nurses felt more empowered and committed to their organization, the English nurses were more satisfied with their job. CONCLUSION: The differences between these two groups of nurses show that empowerment does not generate the same results in all countries, and reflects empirical evidence from most cross cultural studies on empowerment. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT: Nursing management should always take into consideration cultural differences in empowerment, job satisfaction and commitment of nursing staff while formulating staff policies.

Impact of Muslim opinion leaders' training of healthcare providers on the uptake of MNCH services in Northern Nigeria.

Expanding access to maternal, newborn and child health (MNCH) services in traditional societies is a public health challenge, often complicated by cultural and religious beliefs about what is permitted or not permitted within a faith group. This is particularly true in the Muslim majority North of Nigeria, where deep suspicions of Western public health programmes, coupled with failing and underfunded health system, have led to the emergence of a new generation of Muslim Opinion Leaders (MOLs) with counter-narratives against family planning, immunisation and nutrition programmes. This paper reports on an innovative project implemented under the Saving Lives at Birth global partnership programme, where conservative MOLs transformed as champions were engaged as health communicators to train health providers on correct religious precepts related to MNCH. A matched subject type of study design was used to compare healthcare providers' performance in control and intervention health facilities. The result indicates a significant difference both in perception and in practices between healthcare providers in intervention and control facilities, with respect to MNCH uptake. This paper highlights the need for renewed focus on engaging faith leaders and organisations in health communication and service delivery and presents a model of sustainable engagement of champions in MNCH.

Nature of Injury and Risk of Multiple Claims Among Workers in Manitoba Health Care.

In industrial societies, work-related musculoskeletal disorders are common among workers, frequently resulting in recurrent injuries, work disability, and multiple compensation claims. The risk of idiopathic musculoskeletal injuries is thought to be more than twice the risk of any other health problem among workers in the health care sector. This risk is highly prevalent particularly among workers whose job involves frequent physical tasks, such as patient lifting and transfer. Workers with recurrent occupational injuries are likely to submit multiple work disability claims and progress to long-term disability. The objective of this study was to explore the influence of injury type and worker characteristics on multiple compensation claims, using workers' compensation claims data. This retrospective study analyzed 11 years of secondary claims data for health care workers. Workers' occupational groups were classified based on the nature of physical tasks associated with their jobs, and the nature of work injuries was categorized into non-musculoskeletal, and traumatic and idiopathic musculoskeletal injuries. The result shows that risk of multiple injury claims increased with age, and the odds were highest for older workers aged 55 to 64 (odds ratio [OR] = 3.5). A large proportion of those who made an injury claim made multiple claims that resulted in more lost time than single injury claims. The study conclusion is that the nature of injury and work tasks are probably more significant risk factors for multiple claims than worker characteristics.

Rasch analysis of Stamps's Index of Work Satisfaction in nursing population.

AIM: One of the most commonly used tools for measuring job satisfaction in nursing is the Stamps Index of Work Satisfaction. Several studies have reported on the reliability of the Stamps' tool based on traditional statistical model. The aim of this study was to apply the Rasch model to examine the adequacy of Stamps's Index of Work Satisfaction for measuring nurses' job satisfaction cross-culturally and to determine the validity and reliability of the instrument using the Rasch criteria. DESIGN: A secondary data analysis was conducted on a sample of 556 registered nurses from two countries. METHODS: The RUMM 2030 software was used to analyse the psychometric properties of the Index of Work Satisfaction. RESULTS: The persons mean location of -0.018 approximated the items mean of 0.00, suggesting a good alignment of the measure and the traits being measured. However, at the items level, some items were misfiting to the Rasch model.

Do Personal Factors or Types of Physical Tasks Predict Workplace Injury?

Occupational health research has shown that certain worker and job characteristics are risk factors for workplace injuries. Workers who engage in physically demanding jobs, especially those jobs that involve repetitive motion, are at greater risk for work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSD). These risks are particularly prevalent in the health care sector. It is often reported that nurses are at higher risk of workplace musculoskeletal injury than other health care workers due to frequent lifting and transfer of patients and the prevalence of workplace violence. However, many analyses of the physical requirements of jobs do not consider the modifying effect of time spent on a physical task and the risk of WMSD. This study compared the risks of WMSD among workers in health care facilities based on the type of physical tasks and amount of time workers spent on such tasks. Workers who worked longer on a physical task reported more WMSD than those who spent less time on the same physical task. The risk of WMSD was twice as high (odds ratio [OR] = 2.3) among workers who sit less than 2 hours each day compared with those who sit longer. This study found that physical tasks associated with health care jobs and the amount of time spent on these tasks constitutes serious risk factors for WMSD.

Perceived training needs of nurses working with mentally ill patients.

Introductio n: In Malaysia, nurses form a significant part of the clinical mental health team, but the current level of training in mental health results in suboptimal nursing care delivery. METHODS: For this study 220 registered nurses and medical assistants working with the mentally ill completed a structured questionnaire. The purpose of this study was to explore perceived competence in mental healthcare and the training needs of nurses working with mentally ill patients in inpatient mental healthcare facilities. RESULTS: The skills perceived as important for practicing in mental health varied among the nurse participants. Post basic training in mental health was significantly related to perceived competence in patient mental state assessment (p=0.036), risk assessment for suicide (p=0.024), violence (p=0.044) and self-harm (p=0.013). CONCLUSION: There is little emphasis on psychosocial skills in current post basic mental health training in Malaysia.

Breast cancer knowledge and screening behaviour among women with a positive family history: a cross sectional study.

BACKGROUND: Breast cancer is the commonest type of cancer among women, and in Malaysia 50-60% of the new cases are being detected at late stages. Do age, education level, income, ethnicity, relationship with breast cancer patients and knowledge of breast cancer risk factors influence breast screening practices? This study revealed interesting but significant differences. OBJECTIVES: To assess the knowledge of breast cancer risk factors and early detection measures among women in a high risk group. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross sectional survey of one hundred and thirty one women relatives of breast cancer patients was carried out. Participants were selected through purposive sampling, during hospital visits. A self-administered questionnaire was used for data collection. RESULTS: The majority of the respondents (71%) had poor knowledge of the risk factors for breast cancer. Income, relationship with a patient and practise of breast cancer screening predicted performance of mammography, R2=0.467, F=12.568, p<0.0001. CONCLUSIONS: The finding shows inadequate knowledge of breast cancer risk factors and poor cancer screening practise among women with family history of breast cancer. Poor knowledge and practise of breast screening are likely to lead to late stage presentation of breast cancer disease. Some important predictors of breast cancer screening behaviour among women with positive family history of breast cancer were identified. An understanding of the strengths and significance of the association between these factors and breast screening behaviour is vital for developing more targeted breast health promotion.