Factors influencing Video Display Terminal Syndrome in Clinical Nurses

Kwon, Yunhee

Abstract

PURPOSE
The present research is a descriptive study aimed at understanding clinical nurses' Video display terminal (VDT) syndrome and identifying the factors that affect their VDT syndrome.
METHODS
Data were collected from 239 clinical nurses working in two metropolitan cities. Research tools included subject's VDT syndrome assessing musculoskeletal, ophthalmic, dermal, psychiatric, and whole body syndromes. The data were analyzed using frequency analysis, average and standard deviation, t-test, One-way ANOVA, and multiple regression analysis with the SPSS/WIN 20.0 program.
RESULTS
The subjects' VDT syndrome score was 1.34 out of 5. There were significant differences in participating subjects' VDT syndrome, hospital's size, working unit, health status, diagnosis of illness, having an Order Communication System (OCS), having an Electronic Medical Record (EMR) System, continuous VDT working for more than one hour, break time during VDT use, VDT use time, comfort of the chair, adjustability of the height of the chair, size of the VDT's desk, distance between the monitor and the user's eyes, resolution of the monitor, and frequency of eye exercise during VDT use. According to the research, influencing factors on VDT syndrome in clinical nurses included size of the VDT's desk, frequency of eye exercise during VDT use, having an EMR system, break time during VDT use, diagnosis illness, and having an OCS' system.
CONCLUSION
The findings from this study can be used as a basis for future VDT syndrome prevention education and programs for clinical nurses.