Compared with hospital physicians, significantly more surgeons (56 vs. 14 %, respectively) indicated that their work contributed to physical complaints #https://www.selleckchem.com/products/SRT1720.html randurls[1|1|,|CHEM1|]# in the leg region. Although not statistically significant, it appears to be a trend that more surgeons compared with other hospital physicians reported their work as being a contributing factor in the development of physical complaints in the neck and lower back region. The number of surgeons and other hospital physicians who felt impaired in their work functioning due to physical complaints in the different body regions ranges from 12 to 42 %, but no significant differences
were found between the two groups. Table 4 Overview of the percentage (%) of respondents with physical complaints in each summed body region Physical complaints Surgeons (n = 91) Hospital physicians (n = 281) χ 2 p % (n) % (n) Neck 39 (35) 32 (89) 1.426 .232 Work-related 80 69 1.629 .202 Work-impairing 17 15 .125 .724 Lower back 24 (22) 25 (69) .005 .942 Work-related 59 38 3.122 .077 Work-impairing 18 16 .061 .805 Arm 36 (33) 27 (76) 2.819 .093 Work-related 61 63 Selleck YM155 .064 .801 Work-impairing 42 26 2.782 .095 Leg 10 (9) 18 (51) 3.466 .063 Work-related* 56 14 8.366 .004 Work-impairing
22 12 .724 .395 * Difference is significant (p < .05) Table 5 shows that the majority of surgeons (86 %) and other hospital physicians (79 %) rarely experienced difficulties coping with the physical demands of their jobs because of their physical state. However, one out of every seven surgeons (14 %) and one out of every five other hospital physicians (21 %) experienced difficulties at work because of impairments in their physical well-being. Table 5 How often in the past 3 months did you experience difficulties coping with the job demands because of your physical state? Surgeons (n = 93) Hospital physicians (n = 284) % (n) % (n) Once a month or less 86 (80) 79 (223) Several times a month or more 14 (13) 21
(61) χ 2 (1) = 2.498 p > .05 Discussion The much physical job demands of surgeons were quantified for an average workday and compared with other hospital physicians. In comparison with other hospital physicians, surgeons perform fine repetitive movements 26 times longer and stand 130 % longer. In addition, more surgeons (41 %) find their work to be physically strenuous, are seriously bothered by making prolonged repetitive movements (35 %) and by working in uncomfortable and exhausting postures (73 %). A post hoc analysis revealed that the different gender distributions among surgeons and other hospital physicians did not influence these findings. The results bolster previous findings that surgeons contend with physical demands that are perceived as uncomfortable and exhausting (Kant et al. 1992).