Abstract: Objective: Based on the perspective of ergonomics to evaluate the posture load in common clinical nursing operations, and to analyze nurses' musculoskeletal injury risk, so as to provide a basis for the development of targeted occupational health protection measures for nurses. Methods: Using the Rapid Upper Limb Assessment (RULA) method, video capture and posture analysis were performed on the process of 53 clinical nurses selected by convenience sampling method in a tertiary grade A hospital in Changsha performing 32 common nursing operations from June to July 2025. Three trained evaluators independently scored according to the RULA criteria, calculated the mean value to obtain the final RULA score, and delineated the risk level. Results: Among the 32 operations, 12 (37.50%) were extremely high risk, 9 (28.13%) were high risk, and 11 (34.38%) were medium risk. The difference of neck/trunk/leg RULA score between different risk levels was statistically significant (P<0.05). Conclusion: There is a common risk of middle and high level musculoskeletal injury in clinical nursing operations. It is suggested to carry out comprehensive intervention from the aspects of optimizing the operation environment, standardizing the placement of items, promoting the auxiliary tools, improving teamwork process, and strengthening systematic training, so as to reduce the risk of musculoskeletal injury of nurses.

Key words: Work-related Musculoskeletal Disorders; ergonomic; postural load; nurse; Rapid Upper Limb Assessment