Prevalence of Non-specific Lower Back Pain among Nurses Working in Medical Wards and Emergency Units

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The current study aimed to find out the prevalence of nonspecific lower back pain among the nurses of medical wards and emergency units. For this purpose, a cross-sectional study was conducted in various public and private hospitals in Okara, Pakistan. A sample size of  150 female nurses was considered for the study. Moreover, convenient sampling technique and questionnaires were used along with the Oswestry Disability Index to evaluate the lower back pain and the Numeric Pain Rating Scale was used to gauge its severity. Data analysis was performed using SPSS version 22 software.Among 150 female nurses, 44.7% were between 20-30 years old, 36.0% were aged 31-40, and 19.3% were aged 41-50. Out of these 150 female nurses, 61 worked in the medical ward and 89 were working in the emergency department. Statistical analysis with a p-value < 0.05 indicated a significant difference in the occurrence of lower back pain between these two groups. The medical ward had a lower prevalence of 42.3% as compared to the emergency department that had 63.1%, respectively. Conclusively, it was observed that a significant work-related health concern is the incidence of non-specific lower backaches among nurses working in hospital wards and emergency rooms. As compared to nurses in medical wards, emergency room nurses appeared to experience more intensified lower back discomfort due to prolonged working hours.