Physical restraint on uncooperative children

Published

I am 18 and just started my apprenticeship to become a medical secretary working for a pediatrician.

The other day i was talking to my colleague when she told me about a 5 year old girl who had to get a neccessary injection which she refused because she has needle phobia and 3 people tried to hold her down but they still could not get it done because the girl was raging and was unable to restrain.

Now i am wondering how can it be that 3 adults are unable to overpower a 5 year old girl.

I told my collegue that its hard to belive and that i think if i was with them i would just hold her tight with my arms

wrapped around her body and somebody only has to take her arm and get the shot done.

But she (my collegue) said that she was also surprised by that girl's strength and never experienced something like that before. And shes working there for over 20 years.

But i still find it hard to beleive.

Did anybody ever experienced something like this?

hey guess whos back...finally found time to get back on my "old school topic" on this board..to whom it may concern ..greetings..everybody else..simply ignore it

..thank you all for the responses last year and i have to tell you right now i did actually experienced some things that i must say i never imagined to be possible but now i know first hand i was wrong and i want to thank you again for proving me wrong.. thank you!

this past friday we had a 10 year old boy fighting hard to avoid the neccessary shot he needed but in the end the doc and me plus an assistent got it done...i can still not believe that little children like 3 or 4 years of age can put up so much of a fight that it would we very hard to medicate them without really putting up a serious force

Specializes in Peds/outpatient FP,derm,allergy/private duty.

Thank you so much for coming back to give us an update!! Continued best wishes to you as a peds nurse! :) :up:

Thanks a bunch for the update Aleccandra. That it can take multiple adults to restrain a small child is hard to imagine uless you've encountered it.

I would never let any of you "provide care" for my child.
Trust me, the feeling is mutual.
Specializes in PICU.

Yay! So great to hear an update. Remember to keep an open mind as you go through school and it's always great to ask questions. As you find out, eventually you will find your answer either by experience or by listening to someone else's experience (although going through it yourself helps you learn that much faster!). Just wait until you have to do an IV or blood draw in a foot! Holy cow those feet are strong! I love feet veins but my hands cramp every single time (and the effects last for several hours if not a couple days).

Also, I must say it says a lot about you to come back and say "I was wrong". Haha! Congrats on your humbling experience. And I must say, the younger kids, I can understand fighting so much, but it's a lot more annoying when it's an older kid. ;)

Remember to always be careful though, I had a coworker that lost a tooth because a kid kicked him so hard. :/

Specializes in PICU.

Come back and update us as you get more experience with all ages and let us know how it goes! :)

Specializes in Trauma, Teaching.

Glad you're back, and you're welcome!

:hug:

+ Join the Discussion