I'm a new grad working on a cardiac progressive care unit and have identified an issue with the way our recliners are being used. When assisting patients into a reclining position, nurses and aids often put the garbage can under the foot of the recliner to prevent it from falling back into the sitting position because they don't stay in the reclining position for some reason.
Our patients are older and our plan of care includes getting them out of bed and into the chair for breakfast lunch and dinner and walking four times a day among other things. We encourage them to only use the bed at night so reclining in the chair is a great way to make position changes and allow them to rest between meals, assessments, interventions, walks and physical therapy.
The problem is that I've walked into rooms to see confused patients or patients who can't reach their call light trying to get out of the recliner with their foot/feet stuck in the garbage can and/or one or more legs caught in the space between leg-rest and the seat. I'm afraid that someone will end up falling and sustaining an injury. It seems to me that if using all four bed rails can is considered entrapment, then the same would be true if a patient can't get out of a recliner without assistance moving the object from under the let-rest.
Does anyone else think that this situation seems dangerous or know of any facilities that have policies that prohibit the use of objects to hold up the leg-rest in a recliner chair?
Thanks in advance for reading my post and sharing your input.
