Date of Award

11-2021

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

MS in Epidemiology & Biostatistics

First Advisor

Dr. Masood Kadir

Second Advisor

Dr. Asaad Nafees

Third Advisor

Mr. Iqbal Azam

Department

Community Health Sciences

Abstract

Background: Work-Related Musculoskeletal Disorders (WRMSDs) are a group of disorders that affect muscles, tendons, skeleton, cartilage, ligaments, and nerves. Surgery trainees are at high risk for developing WRMSDs as many procedures they perform require ergonomically challenging positions for extended numbers of hours.
Objectives: 1) To estimate the frequency of work-related musculoskeletal WRMSD of the neck, shoulder, and back among surgery trainees at tertiary care hospital, Karachi, Pakistan. 2)To determine the factors (age, gender, BMI, physical activity, sub-specialties, and working hours in operation theater) associated with WRMSD among surgical trainees in a tertiary care hospital, Karachi, Pakistan.
Methods: This was an analytical cross-sectional study conducted on 139 trainee surgeons working in tertiary care hospital Karachi. Non-probability purposive sampling was used to recruit participants who spend at least 1 year in the same hospital as a trainee. A structured questionnaire was adapted from Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire and Global Physical Activity Questionnaire. Penalized Logistic Regression was used to assess the association of factors with WRMSD among trainee surgeons by using STATA version.16.
Results: The mean working hour among those who developed WRMSD is 24.8 ± 18 vs those who have not developed disease 28.09 ±18.4 the frequency of WRMSD among trainees was 84%(n=117) The frequency of neck pain was reported high 88% (n=103) as compared with other anatomical position such as shoulder and upper limb. Only 13% have attended a training session on ergonomics in the past. Working hour, specialty, and weight has been adjusted for the final model The odds of getting WRMSD among trainees who was working in Orthopedic, Neurosurgery, and Cardio-thorax were high as 16.6 (95% CI:1.92-300.7) our study found no association between a working hour in operation theater with WRMSD
Conclusion: Sub-specialties are associated with WRMSD, our finding of frequency is similar to a study conducted in other developed countries. WRMSDs are easily preventable through behavior modifications. Our study was not only identified the prevalence of WRMSDs in Pakistan but also found important associations which may help to develop preventive strategies and improve the working conditions for surgery trainees. Ergonomic training (for surgical trainees) is crucial, so the trainees can effectively have worked, in the intense environment of the operation theatre.

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1

Last Page

63

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