Barriers of Return-to-Work Among Nursing Personnel in the Hospital Setting

Nursing personnel are at high risk for work-related back pain, as well as restricted and lost work time from these injuries. As staff-to-patient ratios descrease and patient populations become more ill, return to work becomes more challenging. Using quantitative and qualitative data we examined barriers to returning to work and problems working with restrictions among nursing personnel at a tertiary care medical center from the perspective of the injured worker, co-workers, and their managers. Thirty nursing staff who experienced lost-time from a work-related back injury were followed prospectively through confidential questionnaires to assess their experiences with the return to work process. A series of focus groups were also conducted with nurses, nursing assistants, and managers to get their perspectives on working with injured co-workers. Barriers to returning to work included a lack of available light duty work, especially for nurses aides. Nurses were able to work as a “charge nurse” without having to take a patient assignment, or to work on unit specific projects. Accommodations were viewed more positively for staff who appeared to be more socially integrated into the work unit. However, nurse managers expressed difficulty finding work assignments for all personnel if their restrictions lasted for an extended period of time, suggesting that it had the potential to create morale issues for the unit. Survey findings suggest that in large part nursing personnel feel supported by their coworkers, but the nature of the work makes it difficult for them to always be appropriately accommodated.