Function of Directing in Performing Physical Restrain in Intensive Care Wards: A Phenomenological Study

Abstract

The restraint to limit patient’s movements with psychomotor agitation is often performed in the intensive care wards. Hence, optimizing the directing function is considerably needed to implement safe restraints. However, performing restraints frequently lead to injuries to patients. This study explores nurses’ experiences performing physical restrain in intensive care wards. This study applied a descriptive phenomenological design, using in-depth interviews to collect data from eight key participant dan two associate participant. The key participant were nurse practisioner and team leader of nurse, the associate participant were head of nurse in intensive care wards in Aceh Province, Indonesia. The results of this study identified four themes: Socialization of Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) Restraint, optimization of supervision, lack of documentation, and improvement of nurse capacity development. The study findings show the problems in the decision-making process that needs to be considered by nurse managers to improve patient safety. It is recommended that nurse managers improve directing function and the nurse’s competency in delivering nursing services at intensive care wards, especially related to restraining procedures, as one of the efforts to improve patient safety and optimize the nursing outcomes.