Relationship between mental workload and musculoskeletal disorders with intention to leave service among nurses working at neonatal and pediatric departments: a cross-sectional study in Iran

Background Despite the challenge of nursing shortage in the world and its subsequent impact on care quality as well as aggravation of the situation by intention to leave service, this issue has not been properly addressed, especially among neonatal and pediatric nurses. The present study aims to identify the relationship between mental workload and musculoskeletal disorders with intention to leave the service among nurses working at neonatal and pediatric departments. Methods This descriptive-analytical study was conducted on 145 nurses working at neonatal and pediatric departments in six hospitals in Bushehr Province using full-census method. The data were collected using national aeronautics and space administration-task load index (NASA-TLX), Cornell musculoskeletal discomfort questionnaire(CMDQ) and Mobley and Horner's voluntary turnover questionnaire. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, independent t-test, Mann-Whitney U test, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), Kruskal-Wallis test, Pearson's and Spearman correlation tests and hierarchical linear regression in simultaneous model in SPSS 19.0. Results The mean score of intention to leave the service was 9.57 +/- 3.20 (higher than the moderate level) and the mean mental workload was 71.65 +/- 15.14 (high level). Pain in at least one of the legs (100%), back (77.3%) and knees (76.6%) was highly prevalent. However, no statistically significant correlation was found between musculoskeletal disorder categories and intention to leave the service (p > 0.05). The regression analysis results revealed among mental workload domains, only effort-induced workload was negatively and significantly correlated with intention to leave the service (p = 0.003; beta=-0.078). However, the number of night shifts per month was positively and significantly correlated with intention to leave the service (p = 0.001; beta = 0.176). Conclusions Planning for appropriate allocation of night shifts, investigating the etiology of musculoskeletal disorders and providing solutions for reducing mental workload should be prioritized by policymakers, while maintaining pediatric nurses' motivation for making efforts.