The Benefit of Identifying Restraint Risks

The decision to restrain a patient remains controversial. Amongst many of the restraint risks facing your patient’s experience are the psychological and emotional effects a patient feels being restrained. On a very basic level, your patient can experience increased agitation and hostility, increased stress and a sense of humiliation or loss of dignity.

The physical risks can include increased stress on the heart, increased pain and discomfort. There is an increased risk of falls and even death.

Our colleagues at MHO (Mental Health Outcomes) provide a deeper look at the benefits of identifying restraint predictors to help in your advocacy for implementing more effective strategies to prevent restraint. Click here to download their infographic.

Adopting Restraint Prevention Strategies

Based on MHO’s team of analysts, adult inpatients that experienced a restraint have a different BASIS-32™️ profile at admission. They are less likely to have been assessed at admission and this can be in part due to their severity or symptomology. They tend to be associated with a higher severity of manic behavior and hallucination items as well as impulsivity and psychosis subscales. They are also associated with lower severity on depression and anxiety subscale.

By collecting and reporting important restraint risks data for accountability such as this, you will be able to track the efficacy of policy changes.

When considering the operational benefits of reducing the use of restraints, consider that restrained patients have a 14-point lower Net Promoter Score and tend to have a longer length of stay (as much as 4 or more additional days) in the hospital. By implementing regular training on restraint prevention strategies and de-escalation techniques, you can improve both your patient outcomes and your hospital’s operational efficiency.

As part of your restraint prevention strategy, debrief after events with your patient. By pro-actively addressing what led to the incident, you can help to prevent them in the future. Include family and patient advocates throughout this process.

Horizon Health recognizes your potential challenges in developing new patient restraint prevention strategies. Our team is ready to help. Contact us today to learn more about how we can apply our operational expertise to help you improve your patient outcomes.