Ergonomics risk assessment of musculoskeletal disorders (MSD) during simulated endotracheal intubation in hospital universiti sains Malaysia (HUSM)

Abstract

Endotracheal intubation is an important procedure in emergency medicine. This procedure is done as a method to secure the airway of patient during cardiac arrest. Body posture during intubation may cause musculoskeletal disorders, but doctor do not have awareness about effect of ergonomic factors on their health. There is a rise in prevalence of work related musculoskeletal disorder (MSD) in medical personnel performing any procedure due to lack of physical ergonomic. There is little evidence on optimum bed level for intubation in association with ergonomic body posture. This study was performed to evaluate the effect of different bed level during endotracheal intubation on ergonomic risk using REBA methods and to find optimum level for intubation with less risk of MSD. This cross sectional study was performed among 30 emergency residents using REBA methods. This study has been carried out at red zone of accident and emergency department Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia, Kota Bharu, Kelantan. During this study, 30 doctors were asked to performed endotracheal intubation using a mannequin at 3 different bed levels: supra pubic, umbilical and sub-xyphoid level. At each level, their body posture was recorded and score were given based on REBA. We compared mean REBA score for each level. This study showed that high risk and very high risk for MSD when intubation was performed at the level of supra-pubic and umbilical. However, the score for sub-xyphoid was low risk for MSD. As a conclusion, we should advise the medical personnel to intubate patient at a sub-xyphoid level.