Affiliations: University of Windsor, Windsor, ON, Canada | Western University, London, ON, Canada
Note: [] Address for correspondence: Dr. Patricia L. Weir, Department of
Kinesiology, University of Windsor, 401 Sunset Avenue, Windsor, ON, N9B3P4,
Canada. Tel.: +1 519 253 3000 x.2443; Fax: +1 519 973 7056; E-mail:
[email protected]
Abstract: Objective: Patient transfers have been implicated as a contributing
factor in the high work-related musculoskeletal disorder (MSD) rate in nursing.
However, documenting how much time is spent doing such tasks, compared to other
less biomechanically stressful tasks in the workplace, has been limited, and
not performed to date using a video-based approach. Therefore, the purpose of
this study was to determine the feasibility of documenting all job-related
nursing tasks performed during a typical shift in a hospital setting using
video. Participants: Ten female nurses from an acute care hospital who
worked in different units and during all three shifts. Methods: Nurses working in different units of the hospital were
videotaped performing their normal job-related tasks for a 2 hour period. Video
records were subsequently analyzed to identify and categorize all tasks
performed by each nurse. Results: Overall, nurses spent less than 7% of their time during
patient moving and transfer activities. One third of their time was spent
walking, standing and sitting, 19.8% charting, 14.7% in patient care, 13.9%
preparing medicines, 9.5% in housekeeping, and about 3% in self-care. Conclusions: This study showed that video-based methods are feasible
for documenting what nurses do in the workplace. It also highlighted the
diversity and non-repetitive nature of the workplace tasks nurses perform and
suggests that ergonomic assessments of the cumulative effects of work on nurses
in the field should focus on more than just patient handling activities.
Keywords: Patient transfers, nursing tasks, posture, video, time study
