ICU Patients' Experience Process of Physical Restraint

Kim, Mi Young

Abstract

PURPOSE: The purposes of this study were to explore and describe the use of restraint on patients and to generate a grounded theory of how the use of restraint affects patients who have been restrained.
METHODS
Interview data from seven patients with physical restraint was analyzed using the Strauss and Corbin's grounded theory method. Data were collected and analyzed simultaneously. Unstructured and in-depth interviews were conducted retrospectively with patients recalling their memories of ICU following their transfer to general unit.
RESULTS
'Safety belt' was emerged as a core category and it reflected that physical restraint provided a sense of security to patients. On the basis of core category, a model of the experience process of restrained patients in ICU was developed. The experience process were categorized into four stages: resistance, fear, resignation, and agreement. Stages of these proceeds appeared to have been influenced by the nurses' attitude and caring behavior such as the frequency of nurse-patient interaction, repetition of explanation, and empathetic understanding.
CONCLUSION
These findings indicate that patients have mixed feelings towards restraint use, although negative feelings were stronger than positive ones. The result of this study will help nurses make effective nursing intervention.