Geropsychiatric restraint use

OBJECTIVES: To investigate predictors and reasons for restraint use with geropsychiatric patients. DESIGN: A prospective, correlational study. SETTING: The geriatric unit of an acute-care psychiatric hospital. PARTICIPANTS: Twenty-one staff nurses and 131 patients admitted consecutively over a period of 6 months. MEASUREMENTS: Disruptive behaviors were measured with the Nursing Home Behavior Problem Scale (NHBPS), cognitive function was measured with the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), mobility was measured with a Functional Mobility Screen (FMS), and reasons for restraint use were obtained with a questionnaire completed by nurses. RESULTS: Patients with a diagnosis of dementia, impaired mobility, or behavioral problems were more likely to be restrained. The most frequent reasons given by staff for restraint use were an unsteady gait and a risk of falling. The incidence of restraint use was 27.1%. CONCLUSION: The use of restraint with geropsychiatric patients may be more common than previously reported and requires further investigation.