Abstract
Background
Globally, work related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSD) have emerged as a major occupational public health concern among healthcare workers (HCW), in particular the nurses who are at the forefront of the healthcare delivery system. The 2016 Global Burden of Disease (GBD) data for non-communicable diseases reports that Disability Adjusted Life Year (DALYs) for musculoskeletal conditions increased by 61.6% between 1990 and 2016, with an increase of 19.6% between 2006 and 2016. Furthermore, World Health Organization (WHO, 2018), states that the sustainable development goals (SDGs) and the Decade of Healthy Ageing (DHA) 2020–2030 offer a timely and favorable opportunity for increased global attention and action on musculoskeletal health both at national and global level because the burden of disease profiles are shifting from communicable conditions to predominantly long-term non-communicable diseases, commonly including musculoskeletal conditions. Literature indicates that musculoskeletal disorders (MSD) constitute a notable occupational problem among the nurses with low back pain (LBP) being the most prevalent with consequent occupational injuries. There is an increase in literature regarding the MSD which poses a major threat to the health of nurses, hence there is need to investigate measures that can be used to mitigate the burden of LBP among nurses. Therefore, the scoping review will map the existing evidence on prevalence, incidence, mortality, risk factors and economic costs associated with MSD among nurses in Sub Saharan Africa (SSA).
Methods and analysis
Scoping review will be done to explore, describe and map literature on the prevalence, incidence, mortality, risk factors, and economic costs related to MSD among nurses in SSA. The search will be done using databases such as PubMed, MEDLINE, CINAHL, Google Scholar, nursing academic editions and World Health Organization (WHO) library databases. The search will look for primary studies within peer-reviewed articles as well as gray literature. The list of references from included studies will also be searched. This scoping review will be reported in accordance to the MOOSE and PRISMA-ScR guidelines. The NVivo 12 data analysis software will be used to generate themes, and a thematic content analysis will be used to give the narrative account of the review.
Discussion
At the end, this study anticipates to uncover the relevant literature in SSA in regard to prevalence, incidence, mortality, risk factors and costs related to MSD among nurses, furthermore findings from this study will help in identifying research gaps, informing policy, priority in funding and planning and to guide future research.
The Distribution of Work-Related Musculoskeletal Disorders Among Nurses in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Scoping Review Protocol
