The Quality of Life of Trauma Patients with Splint Immobilization

Background: Different countries have used different methods to reduce trauma-related mortality and its complications. Objectives: Splint is a temporary and conventional method of fixing an injured organ. Therefore, evaluating the quality of life in trauma patients with splint immobilization is important. Methods: This prospective study was performed on 287 trauma patients with splint immobilization in two baseline periods and one month later in Haft-e-Tir and Rasoul-e-Akram hospitals. The Data collection tool was the SF-36 quality of life questionnaire. Paired t-test was used to assess the changes in the quality of life. SPSS version 21 was used for statistical analysis. Results: The mean quality of life in the study's first phase was 76.31 ± 9.42, and one month after splint immobilization was 76.13 ± 8.98, and there was no significant difference between the two phases. The Splint immobilization of the patients significantly affected the quality of life in 5 out of 8 dimensions. Still, the intervention increased the scores in 3 dimensions and decreased scores in 2 dimensions. The results showed that social performance (P = 0.01), energy and vitality (P < 0.001), and emotional health (P < 0.001) increased, and physical performance (P = 0.01) and general health (P = 0.001) decreased, and they were significantly different in the two phases. There were no significant differences between emotional limitation, physical limitation, and pain in the two phases of the study. Conclusions: Splint immobilization of patients improved the quality of life in 5 out of 8 dimensions. After a month, the trauma-related mental and physical shock did not disappear, and even the patients were more sensitive to quality-of-life questions due to time spent with splint immobilization and familiarity with its limitations. The patients tried to reflect on their dissatisfaction with splint immobilization.