ArticleInternational archives of occupational and environmental health2014
Association between perceived inadequate staffing and musculoskeletal pain among hospital patient care workers.
Article in International archives of occupational and environmental health, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT01841983 (Project A), which is not on this map. Cited by 15 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Project A: Integrated Approaches to Improving the Health and Safety of Health Care Workers
Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 28 citations in OpenAlex.
- Organizational and Individual Outcomes of Health Promotion Strategies-A Review of Empirical Research.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Pooled it
- [Occupational Exposure to Psychosocial Factors and Presence of Musculoskeletal disorders in Nursing Staff: A review of Studies and Meta-Analysis].Revista espanola de salud publica · 2017Pooled it
- Implementing an Integrated Health Protection/Health Promotion Intervention in the Hospital Setting: Lessons Learned From the Be Well, Work Well Study.Journal of occupational and environmental medicine · 2016Trial
- Work demands and physical activity in hospital employees with different degrees of musculoskeletal pain: descriptive data from the STUNTH study, Norway.BMC musculoskeletal disorders · 2026Article
- Prevalence, Severity, and Determinants of Low Back Pain Among Nurses at Sohar Hospital, Oman: A Cross-sectional Study.Oman medical journal · 2026Article
- Physical and Social Factors Differentiating Acute and Chronic Low Back Pain Among Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprise Workers in Japan: A Cross-Sectional Study.European journal of investigation in health, psychology and education · 2026Article
- Exploring the impact of high reliability organization implementation on patient handling injury rates: a cross-sectional study.Journal of occupational medicine and toxicology (London, England) · 2025Article
- Relationship Between Musculoskeletal Disorders and Productivity Loss Among Hospital Nurses: An Analytical Cross-Sectional Study With Secondary Data Analysis.Journal of nursing scholarship : an official publication of Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing · 2025Article
- Prevalence, predisposing factors, and turnover intention related to low back pain among health workers in Accra, Ghana.PloS one · 2025Article
- Measuring perceived adequacy of staffing to incorporate nurses' judgement into hospital capacity management: a scoping review.BMJ open · 2021Article
- Literature Review of Policy Implications From Findings of the Center for Work, Health, and Well-being.Journal of occupational and environmental medicine · 2019Review
- Perceived Workplace Health and Safety Climates: Associations With Worker Outcomes and Productivity.American journal of preventive medicine · 2019Article
- Integrating worksite health protection and health promotion: A conceptual model for intervention and research.Preventive medicine · 2016Article
- German version of the Cornell Musculoskeletal Discomfort Questionnaire (CMDQ): translation and validation.Journal of occupational medicine and toxicology (London, England) · 2016Article
- Understanding the hospital sharps injury reporting pathway.American journal of industrial medicine · 2015Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 6 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveTo examine association between perceived inadequate staffing and musculoskeletal pain and to evaluate the role of work-related psychosocial and physical work factors in the association among hospital patient care workers.
methodsA cross-sectional study was conducted among 1,572 patient care workers in two academic hospitals. Perceived inadequate staffing was measured using the "staffing adequacy subscale" of Nursing Work Index, which is a continuous scale that averages estimates of staffing adequacy by workers in the same units. Musculoskeletal pain (i.e., neck/shoulder, arm, low back, lower extremity, any musculoskeletal pain, and the number of area in pain) in the past 3 months was assessed using a self-reported Nordic questionnaire. Multilevel logistic regression was applied to examine associations between perceived inadequate staffing and musculoskeletal pain, considering clustering among the workers in the same units.
resultsWe found significant associations of perceived inadequate staffing with back pain (OR 1.50, 95 % CI 1.06, 2.14) and the number of body area in pain (OR 1.42, 95 % CI 1.01, 2.00) after adjusting for confounders including work characteristics (job title, having a second job or not, day shift or not, and worked hours per week). When we additionally adjusted for physical work factors (i.e., use of a lifting device, and the amount of the time for each of five physical activities on the job), only the association between perceived inadequate staffing and back pain remained significant (OR 1.50, 95 % CI 1.03, 2.19), whereas none of the associations was significant for all of musculoskeletal pains including back pain (OR 0.96, 95 % CI 0.66, 1.41) when we additionally adjusted for work-related psychosocial factors (i.e., job demands, job control, supervisor support, and co-worker support) instead of physical work factors.
conclusionsPerceived inadequate staffing may be associated with higher prevalence of back pain, and work-related psychosocial factor may play an important role in the potential pathway linking staffing level to back pain among hospital workers.
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Registered trials
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