Geri chair....... How safe are they?

[iluvivt, BSN, RN]

In California we are allowed to use geri chairs and I would like any nurses opinion on this incident. I had a very strange nurse manager trying to make trouble about a geri chair incident. keep in mind that I have observed this new manager to our facilit of our hospital attached SNF follow caregivers around looking for problems. She has followed our IV team members insisting we close the doors for care even though curtains are closed and pts privacy is already protected.....there is something strange about her. Anyway there was a patient in a geri chair across from the station so I asked the nurse caring for this patient (also the charge nurse that day) if it was a good time to provide his PICC care. She told me it was and wheeled him back to his room directly across the nurses station. I told her I only needed 10 minutes to complete the procedure. I did complete the dressing with the pt in the geri-chair...pt was strapped in with 2 belts and 2 side rails...which I just worked around...he basically slept through the procedure. I opened the door and made his chair visible to the station before I left. I did not go far ...just outside the door of the next room waiting for the nurse to finish a bath...so I could do another PICC dressing change. The manager approached me about 10 minutes later accusing me of leaving the patient in an unsafe condition. I did not take it well b/c of the way she approached me and also I did not agree with her. Geri-chairs are designed as safety chairs with small wheels that pts can not role and they are designed to make it difficult for the patient to lift their upper body. In addition, many have belts and trays further making it difficult. I kind of had to chuckle since this patient is often left in his low bed without the side rails down as the law dictates...so in a way he was safer in some regard. My opinion is that I told the nurse I would be 10 minutes....the patient was very safe in his chair (sleeping).easily seen from the station. If the nurse had any specific thing she wanted from me..all she had to do was ask. The patient does not have a sitter ever and I checked the nursing care plan and there is no mention of any safety precautions. So what do you all think? This manager was furious at me b/c I did not see things her way and told her I did not appreciate her approach and told her I thought she was making trouble. I E-mailed my nice manager to let her know what happened....which was nothing happened to the sleeping patient. The SNFmanager wanted me to write an incident report but I said in my jugdement he was not unsafe...rather he was safer in the chair than in the bed. He also spent 9 more hours in that chair without being turned....How about that for poor nursing care.

[Truth66]

I work in a LTC facility and we use Geri Chairs quite often. They can be used as a comfort measure for residents who have difficulty sitting upright in a basic wheelchair. By the sounds of it, your patient seemed quite safe being in the Geri Chair.

The only negative things that I've seen with Geri Chairs are with residents who are determined to get out of them and slide them selves under the table top. Depending on the size of the resident they are at risk of choking themselves on the edge of the table top. The potential of this choking is increased if the resident has dementia.

Speaking of dementia, some resident's with dementia really don't like them and I've seen a few resident's over the years actually break off the table top when their agitation level has increased because they are in the chair.

[november17, ASN, RN]

When I worked as an aide in LTC I used to HATE geri-chairs. There were maybe one or two residents who they were extremely appropriate for (advanced alzheimer's unable to walk / barely move types - where the geri-chair was more of comfort measure than anything), but otherwise I think they are extremely dangerous. Especially with the trays. I've never seen anyone injured by them but I could see how it could happen especially with a more mobile patient - and honestly I've seen quite a few "close calls" with them. Namely patients squirming out of them and then standing up from an awkward angle, or nearly ending up on the ground. Amazing how fast that can happen. Personally, I think they are kind of scary. Again, my experience is just limited to working as a CNA at LTC. We don't use them at the hospital I work at currently.