what are chemical restraints?

[sassyann8585]

I am confused by this term. If a psychiatric patient is agitated/has anxiety and gets medication, that is treating their condition = not chemical restraint. If a patient on a medical unit becomes agitated/anxious and doesnt have a psych dx but is given PRN ativan, is this a chemical restraint?

[Meriwhen, ASN, BSN, MSN, RN]

Contributing another piece of reading material, the Seclusion and Restraints Standards of Practice from the American Psychiatric Nurses' Association:

http://www.apna.org/files/public/APNA_SR_Standards-Final.pdf

[sassifras85]

Contributing another piece of reading material, the Seclusion and Restraints Standards of Practice from the American Psychiatric Nurses' Association:

http://www.apna.org/files/public/APNA_SR_Standards-Final.pdf

Based on this Meriwhen, what do you think about what the above people are saying?

[Umberlee]

I think it's great that you are asking the question of the patient, but it's the term that concerns me. To be in alignment with CMS & TJC definitions, they might want to come up with other verbage.

What do you think of asking, "if you find yourself in crisis and out of control while here, what helps you to regain that control?". Maybe add some more choices, like time out, seclusion, etc.

its on a form that we have to read Verbatim out of our computer documentation system.