The aim of this research was to explore back injured nurses' perceptions of their own pain relative to that of their patients, the extent to which nurses self-diagnose, self-treat and seek on-the-job advice and treatment as well as the effect these two factors have upon the amount of taken time off work. A sample of 15 female back injured registered nurses between the ages of 23 and 50 years and employed within the Canterbury area were interviewed. A person-to-person semi-structured interview

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... s conducted to obtain data from two conditions: initial and subsequent. The initial condition referred to the first or predisposing incident or injury which may or may not have been identified prior to the occurrence of the second or subsequent injury. Correlations and frequency calculations were carried out. Results suggest that nurses do not cease work immediately following a back injury but continue to work out of a sense of obligation to both patients and other staff members. Nurses who reported their patients to be in more pain than themselves stayed at work longer before ceasing work and s eking treatment. Nurses tended to self-treat at some time following their injuries, but did not generally seek on-the-job advice or treatment. The extent to which these factors together affect the total amount of time taken off work are discussed. Recommendations in light of these findings include immediate cessation of work, rotation of staff, attention to attitude amongst staff about back injuries in general, introduction of ancillary staff to assist with lifting, and the reinforcement of reporting incidents of back injury.