Evaluation of comfort level in patients with immobilization

Introduction. In our modern “high-tech” society, comfort of the patient is often forgotten because the practice is usually performed according to the bio-medical model and focused only on solving the physical problems of the patient rather than on a holistic approach. Therefore, the objective of this study was to assess the comfort level of patients hospitalized with the immobilization. Material and Methods. The study was conducted as an observational, analytical cross-sectional study by interviewing 124 patients hospitalized at the Clinical Centre of Vojvodina. Comfort Immobilization Questionnaire with 20 individual statements that describe the current good or bad condition of the patient was used as an instru­ment of research. Descriptive and inferential statistics methods were applied for statistical data processing and statistical significance was determined at p < 0.05. Results. The immobilized orthopedic patients reported a high level of comfort in the socio-cultural and spiritual context, which was, however, insufficient in the physical context and the immediate environment context. A low level of comfort was reported by the patients between the ages of 36 and 59 years and the patients with immobilization of the upper extremities. Comfort level was conditioned by the intensity of pain and applied analgesic therapy rather than the duration of applied immobilization. Conclusion. The results of this study indicate that the patients’ comfort level is significantly affected by modifying factors such as hospital facilities as well as the type of immobilization and their age. Comfort Immobilization Questionnaire has proven to be a simple and reliable questionnaire for testing the patients comfort level in different contexts.