How do Nurses Develop RSI?

How do nurses develop RSI?

Nurses are at risk of developing a repetitive strain injury due to their long hours and heavy workload. Working in a high pressure environment, nurses often have to juggle many tasks at once and although there are strict laws in place regarding the number of breaks that must be allocated, many nurses still work for long periods without rest. Studies of RSI have shown that repetitive strain injuries are far more likely to develop if workers do not take regular breaks as the pressure on the joints increases. It is thought that jobs with a high level of stress are more likely to see cases of RSI for this reason.

What does the job involve?

Typical duties of a nurse include assisting doctors with physical examinations, which can include lots of heavy lifting and nurses often suffer with back, neck and shoulder problems as a result. There has been a lot of coverage in the news recently regarding nurses’ heavy workloads which indicate the vast number of issues they are required to deal with. For this reason, they need to be as efficient as possible when assisting doctors to ensure that all patients are seen to within a reasonable time. Heavy lifting and other similar duties required of nurses need to be carried out with great care to avoid injury.

Another requirement of nurses is their nurse of high-end medical equipment which can cause problems. Again, the inputting of data needs to be carried out as efficiently as possible and with this in mind, nurses may find that they are not operating the equipment in the best and most ergonomic way. In addition, more and more nurses are required to provide a high volume of reports than in previous years and this has resulted in a lot more typing work. If nurses are trying to carry out these tasks ‘on-the-go’, simply slotting them in ‘as and when’ it is highly likely that they might be doing so whilst sitting or standing in awkward positions, bending their bodies or limbs which in turn causes strain. Many high-end systems now increasingly use miniature keyboards which only increase the strain further.

What can I do about it?

If you or a loved one is working as a nurse and experiencing symptoms of RSI, you might be entitled to make a claim for compensation. If you’d like to speak to a member of our team, please call 0800 028 2060. Alternatively you can request a call back at a time convenient for you here.