NURSES AWARENESS OF RESTRAINT USE WITH ELDERLY PEOPLE IN GREECE AND THE UK - A CROSS-CULTURAL PILOT-STUDY

The use of restraints in hospitalised elderly people is a contentious but poorly-documented issue and many gaps remain in the literature. De spite the growth of the elderly population, there has been little atte mpt to safeguard their rights in relation to appropriate care whilst i n hospital. Furthermore, little is known about the attitudes of nurses in the U.K. towards the use of restraints in the older population, an d there is an almost total absence of cross-cultural studies. The curr ent study is a small pilot study of nurses' attitudes towards and know ledge of restraint use with older patients. A structured questionnaire was given to 39 U.K. and 11 Greek trained nurses who were working in acute care settings where elderly patients were cared for, with the ai m of identifying their perceptions and experiences of the use of restr aints in their clinical settings. Although numbers were small, a numbe r of differences between the two groups were found, and there were ind ications of further differences. These issues are examined, with parti cular reference to the need for education, restraint policies and mult idisciplinary decision-making about restraint use. Some major principl es which should be included in cross-cultural studies are also discuss ed.