[Use of physical restraints on the elderly: attitudes, knowledge and practice among nursing staff]

To investigate the attitudes, knowledge and practice on the use of physical restraints by nursing staff working with the elderly, as well as the relationship existing between these variables.

A cross-sectional descriptive and correlational study was conducted among professionals from eight nursing homes. Three questionnaires asking about the mentioned variables were used.

A total of 378 questionnaires were finally included (94 nurses and 284 auxiliary nurses). The professionals' attitude was generally against the use of restraints, although they were in favour of using them to avoid falls. With regard to knowledge, they obtained 66% of the correct answers; only 32% believed that there were alternatives to restraints, and 69.1% were unaware that these procedures could cause the death of patients. A total of 69.8% said that their training regarding restraint was limited. The practice could be considered acceptable, although the 61.9% thought it was not necessary to get informed consent from the family, and only 47.1% of the nurses always recorded its use in the patient's history. Differences between attitudes, knowledge and practice were found among the two groups. A relationship between the variables was confirmed; less knowledge and more favourable attitude towards physical restraints correlate with a worst practice.

The attitude of the staff to physical restraints is ambiguous, and erroneous concepts have been detected in their knowledge and practice. Given the influence of knowledge on the rest of the variables, the training of the professionals needs to be improved.