C.P.I. good, bad, or otherwise??

mark_LD_RN · Aug 2, 2002

i worked psych for over a yr we used CPI it is a joke especially if the person is bigger than you. well even the instuctor had trouble geting most of the manuvers to work agains t me. learn some good self defense methods protect yourself. i develpoed my own special holds and manuevers they worked quite well. never got hurt that is pretty good considering i worked on the neuro behavioral unit. good luck!

the new girl · Aug 2, 2002

that seems to be the general idea where I'm at also, last night for example, I had to take a man down who was 6'4" 260# (He may have been big, but he fell hard, and I couldn't let him splatter my co-worker all over the wall) ... and I'm all of 5'8" and only 160. Luckily I had a lot of man power right behind me to help get him down... C.P.I. wasn't even a possibility in that instance. I guess you do what you can to survive...

Thanks Mark

mamabear · Aug 6, 2002

We have CPI training twice a year, and it is a complete fiasco. The other night I was working with the CPI instructor. It took him, another male RN, the security guy and four cops to bring down this wildly psychotic patient:eek: Being the token female that night I was in charge of calling the cops, calming the other patients, and calling the ambulance after the psychotic tried to take a header out the second story window (after he punched one of the cops in the teeth) The CPI guy wasted a lot of time using his B.S. effective communication skills to attempt (and miserably fail at) defusing the situation. If the cops hadn't maced the psychotic, God knows what would have happened:imbar

the new girl · Aug 6, 2002

It's sad to say this, and probaby really REALLY unprofessional.... but wouldn't it be great to just be able to carry stun guns???

I mean, really.... the damage that takes place, not only to the material things around (walls, furniture etc.) but the trauma to the other patients can be overwhelming. And, that's assuming that no one else has been injured physically. I myself was hurt quite severly by a patient last summer, CPI would have done NO GOOD in that situation of coorifice, and the trauma that the adolescent girls on the unit went through that witnessed it was terrible. One of them even threw up, she was so upset.

Thanks for your feedback mamabear.

mamabear · Aug 7, 2002

Hey New Girl-:)

Glad to share. We need to know that it's not just our unit or our hospital that's been hoodwinked into mandating CPI training for all staff. A co-worker, who is also a guard at the county jail, says the CPI training is about as effective for us as the DARE program is for keeping kids off drugs:NOT:roll

In my seven years as a psych nurse I've been kicked, punched, bitten, spat upon, had my hair pulled, my foot stomped upon, been called everything but a Child of God, you get the picture. One coworker was decked by a reportedly "nice kid" who happened to be having a bad day,i.e., he found out he was going to the state hospital for six months. :confused:

Don't give up; we got along without CPI before and, as soon as it falls out of favor with the suits, we'll get along without it again:chuckle

Stun guns are a great idea: mace isn't too bad either. Why should the cops be the only ones to use it legally?

PS: Nobody jump down my throat, please. If you've been knocked around for five plus years,you'll understand where I'm coming from:wink2:

slinkeecat · Aug 7, 2002

I work in psych and we use CPI techniques. It is a team effort. we do not do the lone ranger crap. We have a Crisis team. 6 people who carry a crisis pager and respond to crisis with in 30 seconds usually. We do not wait for a patient to esculate to violence. We try to use some of the holds and generally it works. however there have been moments where it was totally useless and we put them down and gave them a heaping IM of HALDOL and ATIVAN and put them into 4 pt restraints as fast as we could. I personally feel CPI techniques can work if it is used as a team response. But to try these manuevers alone is a crock of doo-doo. I feel that you need to do whatever it takes to maintain your personal safety. I like the CPI crisis team we have but we skip all the "talking down" crap...When a unstable pyschotic patient is going off, telling them to find a happy place just aint gonna get it.......

Orca, ADN, ASN, RN · Aug 18, 2002

I work per diem on a geriatric psych unit where CPI is taught. Taken literally, I believe it is a good way to get your butt kicked. I worked in a facility several years ago where the Mandt Management System was taught, and I found the techniques far easier to learn and far more effective than CPI.

About all CPI has done is make the creators rich.

Heidi · Aug 20, 2002

Are you talking about restraint of patients?

We have what is called calming and restraint. Restraint is always done in a team of three minimum. We have specific holds and techniques. I have found it extremely effective if all people within the team are competent and able. Obviously it doesnt always work, so the art is to remove yourself ASAP and call police for backup.

PsychoRN · Aug 20, 2002

The hospital I use to work at used CPI rather than Mandt because CPI training cost less than Mandt. I agree with previous posters that CPI is ineffective and sometimes dangerous.

dachweiler · Sep 3, 2002

I'm not familiar with CPI. I work in a small psych hospital and we use mandt. Nice ideas & techniques but not very effective most of the time.

Orca, ADN, ASN, RN · Sep 3, 2002

Originally posted by dachweiler
I'm not familiar with CPI. I work in a small psych hospital and we use mandt. Nice ideas & techniques but not very effective most of the time.

I am a bit surprised that you say that. Prior to learning Mandt, the staff at my old facility (which was also in Oklahoma, incidentally) had no training in any restraint technique at all. We simply muddled through as best we could. After schooling in Mandt, there was a perceptible increase in staff confidence that we could handle anything that came along, along with a dramatic drop in the number of restraint situations. In the times that I used it, I never encountered a situation where I found it inadequate.