Can effective stress management prevent back injuries in nurses?
Injury September 1, 2003 A University of Florida nursing researcher is examining whether stress and pain management techniques can prevent work-related injuries and improve the overall health of nursing professionals, potentially avoiding a worsening of the nation’s nursing shortage. Nancy Menzel, PhD, RN, an assistant professor at the UF College of Nursing, will study two groups of 32 nursing staff members who have reported working with back pain in the past year. One group will attend 6 weeks of classes on stress and pain management before receiving state-of-the-art patient handling and movement technology equipment, such as motorized lifts and friction-reducing devices, for use on the job. The other group only will receive the ergonomic equipment, which is designed to reduce the risk of back injuries associated with patient handling and is being loaned for the study by commercial vendors. The stress and pain management classes are designed to reduce stress, back pain and disability
