en Occupational Health Occupational Health پژوهشي Research Article <span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="line-height:16.0pt"><span new="" roman="" style="font-family:" times=""><b><i><span style="font-size:9.0pt">Background & Aims</span></i></b><b><span style="font-size:9.0pt">: </span></b><span style="font-size:9.0pt">Musculoskeletal problems can develop due to the work conditions of nurses and laboratory technicians. The purpose of this study was to evaluate how much time nurses and laboratory technicians spent on high strain postures.</span> <span style="font-size:9.0pt"></span></span></span></span><br> <span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="line-height:16.0pt"><span new="" roman="" style="font-family:" times=""><b><i><span style="font-size:9.0pt">Materials & Methods</span></i></b><b><span style="font-size:9.0pt">:</span></b> <span style="font-size:9.0pt">This cross-sectional study was performed on 32 nurses (from internal medicine and general surgery wards) and 20 laboratory technicians in a hospital located in Tabriz, northwestern Iran. The Nordic questionnaire and the rapid entire body assessment (REBA) method, with a new scoring algorithm, were used for ergonomic assessment. The 90^th percentile was calculated for REBA components to determine the time spent by participants working in stressful postures in the upper extremity, upper quadrant, and trunk/lower extremity. One-way analysis of variance was used for statistical analysis.</span> <b><span style="font-size:9.0pt"></span></b></span></span></span><br> <span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="line-height:16.0pt"><span new="" roman="" style="font-family:" times=""><b><i><span style="font-size:9.0pt">Results</span></i></b><b><span style="font-size:9.0pt">:</span></b> <span style="font-size:9.0pt">Musculoskeletal symptoms of the neck (63.5%) and back (55.8%) were the most common. The time spent in high strain postures of upper extremity and trunk/lower extremity was statistically different between nurses and laboratory technicians. Internal medicine nurses and laboratory technicians were observed in high strain postures for 11% and 8% of their work hours, respectively.</span></span></span></span><br> <span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="line-height:16.0pt"><span new="" roman="" style="font-family:" times=""><b><i><span style="font-size:9.0pt">Conclusion</span></i></b><b><span style="font-size:9.0pt">: </span></b><span style="font-size:9.0pt">Internal medicine nurses are subjected to more biomechanical stress than general surgery nurses, particularly in the upper body. On the other hand, laboratory technicians work with biomechanical stress on their trunk and lower extremities. Ergonomic interventions are proposed to correct nurses&#39; upper body postures and laboratory technicians&#39; lower body postures.</span></span></span></span> Ergonomic assessment, Hospital, Laboratory technician, Nurse, REBA 234 242 http://hsm.umsu.ac.ir/browse.php?a_code=A-10-123-1&slc_lang=en&sid=1 Fatemeh Farrokhi 10031947532846002743 10031947532846002743 No Master of Ergonomics, Public health school, Urmia University of Medical Sciences, Urmia, Iran Abolfazl Ghahramani 10031947532846002744 10031947532846002744 No Associate professor, Department of Occupational health, Public health school, Urmia University of Medical Sciences, Urmia, Iran Samira Orujlu 10031947532846002745 10031947532846002745 No Associate professor, Nursing & Midwifery School, Urmia University of Medical Sciences, Urmia, Iran Mohammad Hajaghazadeh hajaghazadeh@gmail.com 10031947532846002746 10031947532846002746 Yes Associate professor, Department of Occupational health, Public health school, Urmia University of Medical Sciences, Urmia, Iran