Development of an intervention to prevent work-related musculoskeletal disorders among hospital nurses based on the participatory approach.

The participatory approach has been widely used to improve the work environment. The purpose of this study was to develop an intervention to prevent work-related musculoskeletal disorders in hospital nurses using the participatory approach. Based on the Participatory Action Oriented Training (PAOT) approach, the multidisciplinary team conducted the trainer workshop to develop a comprehensive intervention protocol, which yielded several practical and low-cost solutions to reduce the risk factors for musculoskeletal disorders. Structured tools that were focused on the hospital environment were developed. The developed action checklist consisted of 43 items that were focused on five areas of nursing tasks (i.e., patient care and treatment; safe handling of drugs, medical devices, and equipment; workstation design; physical environment; and welfare facilities and administration). The final intervention protocol consisted of a series of structured participant workshop, follow-up visits, and presentation of achievements. Copyright (c) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.