Skip to main content
eScholarship
Open Access Publications from the University of California

Scholarly Works (6 results)

  • Thesis
  • Peer Reviewed
UC San Francisco Electronic Theses and Dissertations (1996)

    Cover page: Nonfatal falls in construction workers
    • Thesis
    • Peer Reviewed
    UC San Francisco Electronic Theses and Dissertations (2007)

    ABSTRACT

    Purpose: The aim of this study was to examine motivations and obstacles experienced by hospital nurses who endeavor to work after injury by focusing on the injury experience, work climate, risk of re-injury, workers' compensation, and issues related to personal lifestyle. Background/Significance: Nurses represent the largest group of hospital workers and experience some of the highest numbers of work-related injuries. Injuries not only cause physical and emotional harm but reduce the number of available hospital nurses and can create socioeconomic hardships for workers and their families. Methods: Motivations and Obstacles to Work for the Injured Hospital Nurse (MORE Nurses study), used ground theory methodology analysis including coding and conceptualization were used in the analysis of the data. Nurses (n = 16) from two different settings were interviewed. Findings: Participants reported fear of injury based on their own experiences and witnessing career ending injuries to co-workers. Many reported altruistic motivations relating to their work as a calling. They were reluctant to report an injury for reasons including their identity, stigma for disability, desensitization of self needs, and loyalty to patient care. Therefore, many nurses reported working with injuries, self-modifying their work duties when possible. Similarities and differences in perceptions of nurses revealed the importance co-worker relationships play in the injured nurses' ability to maintain work. Three conceptual sub-categories emerged from the data. From them, the conceptual description of Nursing Together represented the connections nurses share which motivate them to work. Conclusions: Nurses are compelled to do their work based on deep beliefs related to the importance of caring for another human being in need. The degree to which nurses personally connect with nursing as something more than a job, influences their perseverance to maintain work, the quality of the patient care they delivery, where they chose to work, and how they connect with co-workers. These connections are essential in determining whether nurses will find ways to nurse together as an identity; nurse together as a consequence of injury; or nurse together in the physically and emotionally demanding hospital setting.

      Cover page: Nursing Together: A Grounded Theoy of Acquiring Self Identity that Motivates or Obstructs Hospital Nurses to Work After Injury
      • Article
      • Peer Reviewed
      UC San Francisco Previously Published Works (2015)

      Purpose

      Accumulating evidence suggests an important role for psychosocial work factors in injury, but little is known about the interaction between psychosocial factors and previous injury experience on subsequent injury risk. We examined the relationships between psychosocial work factors and new or recurrent injury among hospital workers.

      Methods

      We studied 492 hospital workers including 116 cases with baseline injury and 376 injury-free referents at baseline over follow-up. Job strain, total support, effort-reward imbalance, overcommitment, and musculoskeletal injury at baseline were examined in logistic regression models as predictors of new or recurrent injury experienced during a 2-year follow-up period.

      Results

      The overall cumulative incidence of injury over follow-up was 35.6 % (51.7 % for re-injury among baseline injury cases; 30.6 % for new injury among referents). Significantly increased risks with baseline job strain (OR 1.26; 95 % CI 1.02-1.55) and effort-reward imbalance (OR 1.42; 95 % CI 1.12-1.81) were observed for injury only among the referents. Overcommitment was associated with increased risk of injury only among the cases (OR 1.58; 95 % CI 1.05-2.39).

      Conclusions

      The effects of psychosocial work factors on new or recurrent injury risk appear to differ by previous injury experience, suggesting the need for differing preventive strategies in hospital workers.
        Cover page: Psychosocial work factors in new or recurrent injuries among hospital workers: a prospective study
        • Article
        • Peer Reviewed
        UC San Francisco Previously Published Works (2013)

        Background

        Patient handling is a major risk factor for musculoskeletal injuries among nurses. Lifting equipment is a main component of safe patient handling programs that aim to prevent musculoskeletal injury. However, the actual levels of lift availability and usage are far from optimal.

        Objective

        To examine the effect of patient lifting equipment on musculoskeletal pain by level of lift availability and lift use among critical-care nurses.

        Design and participants

        A cross-sectional postal survey of a random sample of 361 critical-care nurses in the United States.

        Methods

        The survey collected data on low-back, neck, and shoulder pain, lift availability, lift use, physical and psychosocial job factors, and sociodemographics. Musculoskeletal pain was assessed by three types of measures: any pain, work-related pain, and major pain. Multivariable logistic regressions were used to examine the associations between musculoskeletal pain and lift variables, controlling for demographic and job factors.

        Results

        Less than half (46%) of respondents reported that their employer provided lifts. Of 168 nurses who had lifts in their workplace, the level of lift availability was high for 59.5%, medium for 25.0%, and low for 13.7%; the level of lift use was high for 32.1%, medium for 31.5%, and low for 31.5%. Significant associations were found between lift availability and work-related low-back and shoulder pain. Compared to nurses without lifts, nurses reporting high-level lift availability were half as likely to have work-related low-back pain (OR=0.50, 95% CI 0.26-0.96) and nurses reporting medium-level lift availability were 3.6 times less likely to have work-related shoulder pain (OR=0.28, 95% CI 0.09-0.91). With respect to lift use, work-related shoulder pain was three times less common among nurses reporting medium-level use (OR=0.33, 95% CI 0.12-0.93); any neck pain was three times more common among nurses reporting low-level use (OR=3.13, 95% CI 1.19-8.28).

        Conclusions

        Greater availability and use of lifts were associated with less musculoskeletal pain among critical-care nurses. These findings suggest that for lift interventions to be effective, lifts must be readily available when needed and barriers against lift use must be removed.
          Cover page: Musculoskeletal pain among critical-care nurses by availability and use of patient lifting equipment: An analysis of cross-sectional survey data
          • Article
          • Peer Reviewed
          UC San Francisco Previously Published Works (2012)
          This study describes health and safety concerns and self-care strategies of San Francisco taxi drivers. Focus groups and a written cross-sectional survey were done in a convenience sample of taxi drivers working in San Francisco. Sessions were audiotaped, transcribed in English, and independently coded to identify major health and safety themes, using thematic content analysis. Strategies to manage health and safety issues are the focus of this analysis. Five focus groups were held in 2009 with 36 participants. Major health and safety themes included stress, body pain, danger, vulnerable employment status, and concerns related to unhealthy working conditions. Self-care strategies included diffusion/decompression to manage stress, maintaining a positive attitude, maintaining power and control, and practicing proactive self-care. Creative self-care strategies were described by taxi drivers to keep healthy and safe at work. These data will inform future self-care interventions to reduce health and safety risks of taxi driving.
            Cover page: Health and Safety Strategies of Urban Taxi Drivers
            • Article
            • Peer Reviewed
            UCLA Previously Published Works (2014)

            Background

            The aims of this study were to compare job demand-control (JDC) and effort-reward imbalance (ERI) models in examining the association of job stress with work-related musculoskeletal symptoms and to evaluate the utility of a combined model.

            Methods

            This study analyzed cross-sectional survey data obtained from a nationwide random sample of 304 intensive-care unit (ICU) nurses. Demographic and job factors were controlled in the analyses using logistic regression.

            Results

            Both JDC and ERI variables had strong and statistically significant associations with work-related musculoskeletal symptoms. Effort-reward imbalance had stronger associations than job strain or iso-strain with musculoskeletal symptoms. Effort-reward imbalance alone showed similar or stronger associations with musculoskeletal symptoms compared to combined variables of the JDC and ERI models.

            Conclusions

            The ERI model appears to capture the magnitude of the musculoskeletal health risk among nurses associated with job stress at least as well and possibly better than the JDC model. Our findings suggest that combining the two models provides little gain compared to using effort-reward imbalance only.
              Top