Effectiveness of a New Traction Splint for Patients with Lower Extremities Fracture

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to assess the effectiveness of a new traction splint for better management of transferring patients with lower extremities fracture. Survey of 63 hospital staff involved in patient transfer which were physicians, registered nurses, technician nurses, orderly nurses, and stretcher staffs. Sixty-four patients were divided into 2 groups: 32 for the old style transferring (did not use the device) and 32 for the new style transferring (used the new device). The pain was measured using visual analogue scale (VAS 0-10) then data was compared using t-test. The result showed that all hospital staff involved in patient transferring had a high to very high level of satisfaction because the new device was more convenient for transferring the patients. Patients using the new splint had significantly lower pain while being transferred than patients who did not use the new splint.

Keywords

• effectiveness
• lower extremities fracture
• new traction splint