KNOWLEDGE AND PRACTICE OF BODY MECHANIC AMONG INTENSIVE CARE NURSES IN HOSPITAL

Abstract

Introduction: Poor body mechanics that result in low back discomfort remain one of the main work-related risks for healthcare professionals, particularly nurses and doctors. Objectives: This research aims to investigate low back pain among intensive care nurses by evaluating their understanding and use of appropriate body mechanics at the Johor Bahru Hospital's Intensive Care Unit. Methodology: Using an internet platform, a selfadministered questionnaire in the form of a quantitative study design was distributed to the participants who met the inclusion criteria. The Statistical Package of Social Sciences (SPSS) 26.0 was used to analyse the data using descriptive statistics and the Chi-Square test. Twenty people in all responded to the disseminated questionnaire, which had three sections: body mechanics practice, knowledge, and demographics. Finding: The data indicates that there is a high degree of knowledge among hospitalized intensive care nurses, with a mean percentage of 37.5% for agree and 48% for strongly agreeing, as well as good body mechanics practice, with a mean percentage of 63% for agree and 24.5% for strongly agreeing. Additionally, the results indicate that there is no significant correlation between working experience and body mechanic knowledge among nurses (p=0.125) or between working experience and body mechanic practice (p=0.089). Conclusion: Intensive Care Nurses have strong levels of knowledge and practice, and there is a lack of association between job experience and body mechanics expertise