is this a nursing trick you would use?

[onthejourney]

Hi all. I'm a nursing student doing my final practicum on a medical floor. Today I was helping a nurse change a pt's brief and I saw a trick I'd never seen before. Not sure of the pt's dx, but he was not alert to person place or time and I knew that on a previous day I worked he had taken off his brief and soiled the bed. The nurse had put hospital pants on him backwards and tied the drawstrings on the pants to the drawstrings on the gown in order to keep him from stripping. So is this a tip you would use? Would you chart it? I can't see anything bad happening from it but yet again I am very green. What are your thoughts?

Thanks,

onthejourney

[HouTx, BSN, MSN, EdD]

Yes - I used it all the time when I worked in neuro trauma. It works very well with confused male patients.

[wearingmanyhats, RN]

BRILLIANT!!! I would have never thought to do this...

[loriangel14, RN]

Oh yeah we do that one all the time.No it doesn't need to be charted.

[Flo., BSN, RN]

Sounds good to me.

[Cat_RN, ASN, BSN, RN]

Clever idea!

I wouldn't chart it, especially in LTC since it probably would be considered a 'dignity issue' Seriously- I think if the pt were in their right mind they'd think their dignity would be less intact if they were indeed allowed to dig around in their pants, but that's just me.

I bet the State would even call it some sort of 'restraint'! "The patients have the right to fall and kill themselves..." :icon_roll

[karamarie91]

clever.

[melsch]

We do this as well. And if a patient has a gown on we sometimes place the top sheet under the gown, next to the patient. Don't tie it or it could be a restraint. It doesn't always keep them from taking off their pad - but it slows them down a bit.

[Been there,done that, ASN, RN]

The name of the nursing game is .. whatever works.