Nathan,
I have actually heard this discussed by a surveyor during a survey althought it was not cited. She spoke of many items not being categorized as actual physical restraints, but they should be considered as psychological restraints. After a resident is told enough times to "sit down" after standing up and sounding a chair alarm, it really does become a psycholigical form of a restraint.
Jan
In a message dated 1/10/2004 8:36:06 PM Eastern Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
This brings up one of the concepts that I believe will someday be an issue in nursing homes and psychiatric facilities. We all know of physical restraints...Particularly in psych facilities we know of chemical restraints. What about the idea of a psychological restraint? As an extreme example, what if the alarm were loud enough to hurt the residents ears. After a few times of this occuring, the resident would not get out of the chair in order to avoid the noise. I consider that not only a quality of life issue, but a form of psychological restraint. It does in fact prevent the resident from rising, but not in a physical way, but in a psychological one. This is not currently recognized as a restraint, but I believe it will be someday.
Nathan Lake, RN, MSHA
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