Implications of Bed Rest for Patients with Acute Deep Vein Thrombosis: A Qualitative Study

Abstract

Background/Objective

The recommendation of bed rest for deep vein thrombosis (DVT) patients has changed during the last 20 years, and it has become a concern for researchers. The existing researches on potentially harmful treatment of bed rest for DVT patients focus only on physiological outcomes. This qualitative study explored the implications of bed rest from the perspective of patients with acute DVT. Understanding these implications will provide more evidence on whether bed rest should be used as a medical treatment of acute DVT.

Patients and Methods

For data collection, a descriptive qualitative design utilizing semi-structured, in-depth, face-to-face interviews with nine patients with acute DVT was conducted. In order to find the themes and subthemes emerging from the interviews for data analysis, the Colaizzi method, which was suggested by phenomenological methodology, was used.

Results

The four major themes found were physical effects, psychological effects, social effects, and post-trauma growth. These themes illustrated the bed rest experiences of patients and it has a negative impact on the quality of life (QOL) amidst acute DVT.

Conclusion

Bed rest for patients with acute DVT is a physically, emotionally, and socially distressing phenomenon that simultaneously affects QOL and induces post-traumatic growth. We believe that bed rest is not beneficial to the physical and mental health of patients with acute DVT. This study adds to the available evidence on the harmful effect of bed rest as a treatment from the perspective of patients with acute DVT. Further quantitative studies should compare the quality of life and psychosocial status of patients with and without bed rest amidst acute DVT.

Keywords:

• bed rest
• deep venous thromboembolism
• qualitative
• patient experience

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the nurses of Department of Vascular Surgery, China-Japan Union Hospital of Jilin University for providing a free room for interview and to thank all of the patients that took part in the study for sharing their experiences of bed rest.

Disclosure

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest for this work.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Graduate Innovation Fund of Jilin University [grant numbers 101832018C086]; the Education Department of Jilin Province [grant numbers JJKH20201125KJ]. The sponsor had no role in the study design, in the collection, analysis, and interpretation of the data, in the writing of this report, or in the decision to submit the paper for publication.