Ok, so I'm definitely unsure of the state/federal laws on using restraints for intubated patients that are used solely to prevent a patient from pulling out their ET tube. I regularly place soft wrist restraints on my intubated patients. Often we have to adjust their sedation and I once had a patient pull out her tube, so I'm very cautious.
There's an educator where I work whose specialty is geriatric psych, so I'm not sure she knows how the law/rules apply for our specific population/environment, since this type of restraint is different. She states we need an order.
I haven't been able to find the specific laws on this topic. I have been looking for resources to be able to check my own nursing practice. I'm sure I'll be called out again for this by this educator, so I just want to be sure that what I'm doing is not just "how we've done it," or is there validity to what I have been doing.
I also do not regularly see orders for an ICU patient that has "soft wrist restraints" as an order to protect ET tube.
Ideas? Thoughts? Resources?
Thanks!