Practice and the Influencing Factors of Nurses Working in the Intensive Care Unit regarding Physical Restraint use: Multi-centered cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background: Nurses working in the intensive care unit commonly use physical restraint on critically ill patients. The main reason for the restraining of patients is to prevent the dislodgement of invasive procedures/ medical equipment, reduce agitation. Patients are exposed to different complications from physical restraint like worsening of agitation and delirium, fall injury, limb edema, restricted circulation, and skin laceration at restraint site, and death as a result of nurses’ improper practice regarding restraining. Despite this impact, there was no documented study in Ethiopia in this regard. Objective: To assess practice and its influencing factors of nurses working in the Intensive Care Unit regarding physical restraint Methods: An institution-based cross-sectional study was conducted from July to August 2019 at Amhara regional state referral hospitals, Northwest Ethiopia. All (260) nurses working in the intensive care unit were invited to participate through a convenience sampling technique. Structured questionnaires which consist of socio-demographic, professional characteristics and Level of Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices of Staff Regarding Physical Restraints Questionnaire were used. Simple and multiple linear regression and beta (β) coefficient at 95% confidence interval was employed with p-value<0.05 as statistical significance. Result: The mean score of nurses’ practice regarding physical restraint use among critically ill patients was 30.94±5.44. Nurses with short (≤2 years) experience of the intensive care unit, received educational training during graduate class regarding restraining, knowledge and attitude scores were the factors significantly associated with nurses’ practice score regarding physical restraining use. Conclusion: The practice regarding physical restraint use among critically ill patients among participant nurses’ was a satisfactory. The administrators’ should develop and provide educational and in-service training programs for nurses working in intensive care unit settings regarding physical restraint use and its alternatives, which is crucial for the nurses’ to improve their behavior of restraining. Keywords: Intensive care unit, Nurses’, Practice, Physical restraint