Nursing College Students’ Awareness of Physical Restraints used with Elderly Patients : Comparison of first- and final-year students

Abstract

  This study aimed to clarify nursing college students’ awareness of physical restraints of elderly patients. Data were collected by conducting semi-structured interviews with five first-year and five final-year students. The collected data were analyzed using the KJ Method. The comparison between first- and final-year students revealed similarities in the way they responded to “The present condition requires physical restraint” with “Negative recognition” of physical restraint. Simultaneously, they required “Inventive ideas before applying a physical restraint” and “Alleviation of suffering during physical restraint.” On the other hand, as a unique feature, first-year students have been trying to “Learn from the nurses” and develop an “Ethical attitude while facing patients” to explore the use of physical restraints, though they responded, “I do not know because I have no experience.” However, final-year students have a “Critical view against nurse’s ethics view” because the “Interpretation of physical restraint has individual differences.” They also recognized the necessity of “Final judgment and correspondence by medical team” and “Ethical consideration.”