New gov't regulations regarding restraints?

Nurses General Nursing

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Specializes in Acute Care.

We are being told the govt is now cracking down on restraint use.. Other than soft extremity restraints, they are now considering freedom splints (used to prevent pt from bending their arm) and mitts (that look like boxing gloves) are now considered restraints and require the frequent charting.

Also, heard today armboards for patients with A-Lines are considered restraints?

We are being discouraged from utilizing restraints, because of these new regulations?

Also heard today , using restraints for patients who are intubated is also discouraged?!

Specializes in Cath lab, acute, community.

sometimes i wonder if the people who make these policies have even consulted with someone who works in the real world! i understand that mitts and freedom splints may be restraints but arm boards (which almost every child i work with has when their iv is accessed) is not a restraint since they could take it off if they really truly wanted to!

and intubated patients require sedation to stop gagging, to stop the trauma of being awake like that! it's just part of the process.

in my book, the definition of a restraint is something required to keep a patient safe when they are at risk of harming themselves or another, such as when in states of delirium, psychosis, dementia, aggressive or agitated. next anaesthesia for a lung transplant will be a restraint!

more paperwork...

Specializes in FNP, ONP.

This isn't all that new. I've been away from bedside care for over 5 years and we weren't using them for the last several years I was in the critical care units, even for intubated patients.

:whisphers: Now, I heard a rumor that some nurses may have kept some hidden and may have broken them out for emergencies. But officially, no, we didn't have any and we didn't use them. I can not speak to it on the record, because if it wasn't documented, it wasn't done, right? :no:

Specializes in Surgical, quality,management.

Here in Victoria cot sides and bed tables are considered restraints as well as mittens and concave mattresses and tilt chairs.

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