Abstract
Background: The appropriate application of body-mechanics principles during direct and
indirect patient care can reduce fatigue and musculoskeletal injury. Aim: The present work
investigated the relationship between nursing work environment satisfaction, use of body mechanics,
and nurses reported of fatigue. Design: This descriptive comparative study recruited nurses who
worked in the medical and surgical units across two hospitals in the Suez Canal region of Egypt.
Method: The sample comprised 160 nurses. The tools of the study included Nurses' characteristic
questionnaire, Observational checklist about use of body-mechanics principle, nurses' knowledge
questionnaire, fatigue severity scale, and nursing work-environment satisfaction questionnaire.
Results: It was shown that most nurses properly employed the body mechanics concepts. The study
also revealed a significant strong association between nurses' knowledge and application of the
principles of body mechanics in both groups. There was a considerable moderate positive
association between fatigue severity scores and both scientific and applied scores of body mechanics
among nurses in both hospitals. There was a mild negative correlation between nursing work-
environment satisfaction scores and scientific and applied scores of body mechanics and fatigue
severity scores among nurses at the Suez Canal University Hospital. Conclusion: The results
revealed a negative correlation between the nursing work environment, applied body mechanics, and
fatigue severity. Strategies to mitigate fatigue and preserve the nurses' energy were used by
environmental and occupational health authorities. Management should support work environment-
related activities that are associated with fatigue among Egyptian nurses to reduce and eliminate its
occurrence.