A study of the Ergonomics of the Medical Imaging Scientist in South- South, Nigeria.

Background: The dynamics of man’s relationship to his work environment have a lot to do with the productivity, output and results obtainable.Objective: This study sought to determine for the first time, to establish the perception of the Medical Imaging Scientist of the ergonomic variables of Job satisfaction (JS), Health & Safety (HS) and Performance (P) in Radiology Departments in South-South region of Nigeria.Materials and Method: A prospective survey with 100 self completion questionnaires was conducted among Radiographers (65) and Radiologists (35) in the South-South Nigeria. No stratification was observed among theprofessionals. Questions sought responses in a scale of 1-5 (with 5 being best positive response) relating to job satisfaction, health and safety issues and performance of personnel. Simple percentages were use to organize the results obtained and deductions made accordingly. A two sample t-statistic was used to determine any differences between the perceptions for good against bad ergonomics at the 95% confidence interval. The Pearson’s linear correlation coefficient was used to determine any relationships between the three ergonomic parameters. Responses included indication of musculoskeletal conditions which respondents had suffered from work.Results: Information obtained from responses revealed that about 29% of respondents were satisfied with their jobs. At least 44% of respondents felt there was sufficient provision for their health and safety at work, while about 41% rated their performance as being good on a scale of Excellent > Good > Fair > Poor. Strong positive linear relationships (r ≥ 0.8) were found between the three parameters but none of these was statistically significant (p > 0.05).Conclusion: The results suggest that factors other than health and safety may be determinants of the imaging scientists’ job satisfaction and performance