Prevalence of use of physical restraints in pediatric intensive care units andcorrelated variables: A Spanish multicenter study

Abstract

Objective: To calculate the prevalence of physical restraint (PR) use in Spanish PICUs and (2) to analyze thecorrelation between the prevalence of PR use and the sociodemographic, clinical variables of the patients and thePICU structural and organizational variables.Methods: We conducted a multicenter prevalence study from January 2022 to January 2023 in Spanish PICUs.The method of data collection was by direct observation, review of the patient’s medical history, and asking theprofessionals involved in the patient’s care. Three weekly 24-hour prevalence observations (morning, afternoon,and night) were conducted for 6 months.Results: A total of 336 patients were included in the study, obtaining an overall crude prevalence of PR use of 16% (95 %CI: 15 %-17.7 %). Pediatric patients with respiratory pathology received the highest number of hours ofPR, with significant differences observed when comparing respiratory cases with post-surgical cases. Statisticalsignificance was also observed when comparing the mean scores of hours of PR according to admission diagnosis(p = 0.01), with respiratory patients being the ones who were restrained the longest (24 h [20–24]) and infectiouspatients the least (15 h [14–20]). Patients who receive PR upon admission remain in this situation formore hours (24 h [15–24] and in the PICUs that specifically recorded PR application, fewer hours of PR occurred(20 h [4–24]).