Frequency and severity of low back pain in nurses working in intensive care units and influential factors

Objective: The purpose of this research was to determine the frequency and severity of low back pain and influencing factors in nurses working in intensive care units.

Methods: This research was conducted as a cross-sectional study with 114 nurses working in the intensive care units in the province of Gaziantep, Turkey. Study data were collected using a questionnaire form and visual analogue scale.

Results: It was found that 84.2% of the nurses experienced low back pain, and 66.7% of the nurses evaluated this pain as “a pain with moderate severity”. It was determined that nurses who had not received any education on low back pain, who remained standing for long periods of time, who performed interventions that required bending forward, who lifted and repositioned patients, and who did not use any aiding equipment during interventions, experienced more pain and had higher average pain scores. In addition, average pain scores were higher among nurses with master’s and doctorate degrees, and those working in internal medicine and pediatric intensive care units and working in shifts.

Conclusion: It was observed that many of the nurses working in intensive care units experienced low back pain, and especially those working in internal medicine and pediatric intensive care units and working in shifts had higher average pain scores.