Quality of Care for Patients With Traction in Shahid Beheshti Hospital in 2012

With increasing incidence of traumatic fractures, the use of orthopedic intervention such as traction has increased. Inappropriate traction care may cause substantial morbidity and delay the patient rehabilitation. This study was conducted to evaluate the quality of care for patients with traction in the orthopedic unit of Kashan's Shahid Beheshti Hospital, Kashan, Iran. An observational study was conducted on patients with traumatic fractures of hip and femur bones who were admitted to Kashan's Shahid Beheshti Hospital during the first 6 months of 2012, and for whom skeletal or skin traction was performed. Data was collected using a checklist including questions about personal characteristics and 23 items related to care for patients with tractions. These items were in three domains including caring while establishing traction, recording care and patient’s education. Descriptive statistics were calculated and independent sample t test and Pearson correlation coefficient was used to analyze the data. A total of 100 patients were examined, among them 66% were male. The mean age of patients was 51.16 ± 23.28 years. In total, 47% of the patients were treated via Skin traction and 53% by skeletal traction. Overall, mean score of quality of care was 10.20 ± 2.64. Quality of establishing traction was good in 55% of patients, but the quality of care was poor in the domains of recording care (88%) and patient education (96%). Total mean of quality of care was significantly different between male and female patients (P < 0.02). The quality of care of patients with traction was not optimal. Therefore it is necessary to improve measures in this area.