Background: 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.
Objectives: 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.
Patients and methods: This observational study was conducted on 100 patients with traumatic fractures of hip and femur bones who were admitted to Kashan Shahid-Beheshti Hospital during the first 6 months of 2012, and for whom skeletal or skin traction was performed. Data were collected using a checklist including questions about the 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 data were analyzed using the independent sample t-test and Pearson correlation coefficient.
Results: The mean age of patients was 51.16 ± 23.28 years and 66% of them were male. In total, 47% of the patients were treated by skin traction and 53% by skeletal traction. The 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).
Conclusions: The quality of care of patients with traction was not optimal. Therefore it is necessary to improve measures in this area.
Keywords: Patients; Quality of Health Care; Skeletal Traction; Skin Traction.