Walking at work: Maximum gait speed is related to work ability in hospital nursing staff

Abstract

Objectives: Like the concept of work ability in occupational health, gait speed is a measure of general fitness and can predict functional decline and morbidity. This is especially important when our care-takers, i.e. nurses, show decline in fitness and become care-receivers. The study aims to describe the demographics of hospital nurses in the context of gait speed and work ability as well as to determine the association between them. Methods: Three-hundred and twelve inpatient nurses and nursing assistants were sampled from a level 1 trauma and teaching hospital from several service lines and acuity levels. Spearman correlation tests were utilized to determine the relationship of gait speed and ratings of item 1 on the Work Ability Index (WAI) as well as Cochran-Armitage test for linear trend of gait speed. Results: Maximum gait speed has a significant positive association with work ability with a Rho coefficient of 0.217 (P