The effect of intensive care nurses empathic tendency levels on the attitudes and practise of physical detection

The study was conducted as a descriptive, cross-sectional and relational searcher in order to determine the effect of the empathetic tendency levels of intensive care nurses on their attitudes and practices towards physical restraint. The population of the study consisted of nurses working in the adult intensive care units of Çekirge State Hospital (n=123). In the study, it was aimed to reach the universe by not choosing a sample. The study was completed with 105 nurses who voluntarily agreed to participate in the study. The data of the study were collected with the "Nurse Information Form", which includes nurses' sociodemographic characteristics, working characteristics and data related to physical restraint, "Level of Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices of Staff Regarding Physical Restraints Questionnaire " and "Empathic Tendency Scale". Data analysis was performed using SPSS version 21. In descriptive statistics, mean and standard deviation values were analyzed for continuous variables with normal distribution and median and minimum maximum values for continuous variables without normal distribution. Number and percentage were used in categorical variables. In the findings of our study, the mean score of attitude towards physical restraint of intensive care nurses was 31.1±5.9, the mean of practice score was 36.6±3.8, and the mean of empathic tendency was 69.0±9.7. It was determined that those who were not satisfied with working in their unit and those who received permission from the patient's family before the physical restraint practice had a significantly higher attitude scale score (p<0.05). The mean scores of the nurses who were satisfied with working in their unit were found to be significantly higher (p<0.05). It was determined that the mean scores of the nurses who received training on physical restraint were significantly higher than those who did not receive training (p<0.05). A significant relationship was found between the physician's request for the reason for the physical restraint practice and the physician's decision to fix the restraint, and the practice score (p<0.05). As a result, it was determined that the nurses' attitudes towards physical restraint were positive, their practices were high, and their empathic tendencies were moderate. No relationship was found between the empathic tendencies levels of intensive care nurses and their attitudes and practices towards physical restraint. Keywords: Intensive Care, Nurse, Physical Restraints, Empathic Tendency