relationship mental workload with musculoskeletal disorders among alzahra hospital nurses by nasa-tlx index and cmdq

abstract background: mental workload is a general concept in the literature of ergonomics and human factors that are affected by external working demands, environmental, psychological and organizational factors, organizational and mental abilities. the aim of this study was to assess the mental workload and its impact on musculoskeletal disorders among nurses employed at different parts of the hospital. methods: this descriptive, cross-sectional study was performed in summer 2013 on 247 randomly selected nurses were employed in the alzahra  hospitals in isfahan. the persian version of nasa-tlx (measuring mental load) specialized questionnaire and cornell musculoskeletal discomfort questionnaire (cmdq) were used for data collection. data collected analyzed use to spss 20 statistical software and pearson, spearman and multiple linear regression tests were performed. findings: pearson and spearman correlation test showed significant there was relationship between the nurses musculoskeletal disorders and dimensions of workload frustration, total workload, temporal demand, effort and physical demand (r=0.304,0.277,0.277,0.216, 0.211) respectively. but was no significant relationship between the nurses musculoskeletal disorders and dimensions of workload performance and mental demand (p>0/05). conclusion: the nurses' frustration was a direct correlation with musculoskeletal disorders. this shows that stress is an inseparable component in hospital workplaces. thus reduce stress should be one of the main priorities of hospitals administrators in the nurse workplace. key words: musculoskeletal disorders , n urses , iran , nasa task load index (nasa-tlx)