Design: Anonymous online survey advertised via departmental email lists, grand rounds, and resident didactics.

Setting: N/A.

Patients or Participants: We received 36 complete survey responses from 18 of 28 residents, 2 of 8 fellows, and 16 of 44 faculty at our institution 9/6/22-12/14/22.

Interventions: N/A.

Measurements and Main Results: Median respondent age was 33 years, height 5’5”, and surgical glove size 6.5. Most respondents (94%) were female. Of 152 total injuries reported, 95% caused intraoperative symptoms. Most common injury sites were neck (56% respondents), lower back (53%), upper back (50%), and right hand (47%). Almost all respondents (97%) reported at least 1 injury, with an average of 4.2 injuries (range 0-10) per surgeon. Eighty-four percent of injuries were attributed to repetitive motion, 39% to operating room setup, and 28% to lack of knowledge about optimizing surgical ergonomics. After injury, surgeons self-managed their symptoms (61%), minimized or ignored their symptoms (51%), adjusted their operating technique or equipment (29%), and/or sought medical attention (19%). Sixty-four percent of respondents were not at all familiar with surgical ergonomics best practices, 81% reported difficulty operating surgical equipment due to its physical characteristics, and 86% wanted more laparoscopic instrument handle size and length options.

Conclusion: Our institution’s OB/GYN occupational MSK injury prevalence (97%) is high, comparable to previous reports of up to 95%. Familiarity with surgical ergonomics best practices is relatively low. There is significant need for and interest in targeted ergonomic interventions to reduce injury. Our study is limited by possible recall bias, relatively small sample size, and lower fellow and faculty response rates. Larger studies with sufficient power are indicated to test for associations.