Excessing Energy Expenditure in Female Healthcare Workers in a University Hospital

Source avec lien : Annals of Work Exposures and Health, (wxab054), juillet 2021. 10.1093/annweh/wxab054

L’évaluation de la dépense énergétique sur les lieux de travail reste un sujet central de la santé au travail en raison de l’augmentation des problèmes liés au travail. Aujourd’hui, 80 % des employés du système de santé sont des femmes. Il existe peu de recherches concernant leur activité physique au travail. L’objectif de l’étude était d’étudier la composition corporelle, la capacité physique maximale et de quantifier l’activité physique au travail des femmes travaillant dans le secteur de la santé dans des conditions réelles. L’activité physique professionnelle de 33 femmes — des professionnels associés de la santé, des professionnels de la santé et des femmes travaillant dans le département des nettoyeurs et des aides — a été quantifiée.

The assessment of energy expenditure (EE) at workplaces maintains a central topic in occupational health due to increasing work-related issues. Today 80% of employees in the healthcare system are women. Limited research concerning their physical activity at work is available. The purpose of the study was the investigation of body composition, maximum physical capacity and quantification of physical work activity for female healthcare workers under real-time conditions.Occupational physical activity (PA) of 33 female healthcare workers in a university hospital was quantified. Health associate professionals (HAP), health professionals (HP), and females working from cleaners and helpers (CH) department participated. All underwent cardio pulmonary exercise test. For every working task VO2, VCO2 and RER were measured and EE was calculated individually for each task.Forty-two different working tasks were identified and grouped in seven categories to compare physical activity (PA): ‘office and laboratory work’, ‘bedside patient care’, ‘instrument reprocessing, packing boxes’, ‘walking with patient, or alone’, ‘pushing carts or wheelchairs’, ‘strenuous cleaning in bent posture’ and ‘lifting heavy boxes, weights or items’. By comparing groups of healthcare workers, CH and HAP spent significant (p < 0.01) more EE (in kcal/min) 3.9 resp. 3.2 than HP 2.5. Light PA e.g. office and laboratory work (2.7 ± 0.6) and bedside patient care (2.9 ± 0.7) were accomplished by HP and HAP while HAP and CH performed moderate PA such as ‘packing boxes’ (3.6 ± 0.8), ‘pushing carts’ and ‘strenuous cleaning’ (4.7 ± 0.9). Work performed by CH and HAP, i.e. ‘strenuous cleaning’ and ‘lifting heavy items’ showed highest kcal per kg Fat Free Mass (FFM) per hour with 5.80 [4.05–7.81] and 6.94 [5.18–9.03] kcal/kgFFM/h.Our findings lend preliminary support to the hypothesis that the majority of activities in female healthcare workers were of low and moderate PA and can be accomplished by middle aged and even older female workers. CH performed tasks with heavy physical activities (PA) like cleaning and lifting heavy weights. HAP performed light/moderate PA below their maximum physical capacity. Consultez la page de l’article

Laisser un commentaire