"Chemical Restraints"
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Anonymous
| Does this mean medicating residents into oblivion? |
Anonymous
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Why think the very worst of people?
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Anonymous
Huh? |
Anonymous
This happened to my dad. Awful. But he was immobile, in pain and angry. They drugged him, put a catheter in him. We had an intervention, but I also understand that there weren't a lot of good options. |
Anonymous
| Most facilities are staffed by reasonable people |
Anonymous
| It’s one way to make it work. |
Anonymous
| Chemical restraints are against the law. I'm asking what that means. Does it mean over-medicating or sedating residents? |
Anonymous
That's what happened with my dad. A doctor had to sign off on it, actually provide the Rx, and did. |
Anonymous
Was it based on the request of the facility? Or did the doctor visit with your dad? |
Anonymous
Facility request. Facility MD provided the Rx. |
Anonymous
How is that right? |
Anonymous
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Some older people with dementia can get very aggressive and confused.
Medication is hopefully not the first choice in managing aggressive patients. Ideally a whole bunch of other methods are tried first, and tried again. But facilities can also evict aggressive patients. Their staff does get injured. At home elderly spouses can be injured by such family members. |
Anonymous
| There are really no good options sometimes.can you afford a private caregiver to sit with him? |
Anonymous
As the PP who followed this question said, when the elderly get aggressive they can hurt themselves and the staff. We brought my dad home. Being in familiar surroundings helped. But not many have the ability or the money to deal with this at home. The reality is when things go really wrong with the elderly, it is extremely hard to manage. |
Anonymous
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RN here. Into oblivion? No. But enough so they stop engaging in whatever dangerous thing they are engaging in? Yes. And often times this will make them lethargic/out of it/sedated.
I work in a hospital. We use this typically on patients who are hurting themselves and others and nothing we've done has been able to stop it. Unfortunately I've been hit, kicked, bitten by many confused patients. Not all require chemical restraints. But some can be quite dangerous. Pulling at medical equipment like IVs, feeding tubes, oxygen, etc and we've tried other ways to prevent it. Or constantly getting out of bed when they are a major fall risk and having a 1:1 or video monitoring device is not working. In a lot of these instances, the options are either a chemical restraint or physical restraint. Physical restraints often cause more confusion, anxiety, and threat to the patient. We try to choose the lowest dose of the least potent medication we can. Now, that's not to say there aren't instances where chemical restraints are over used. Sure, it would be much easier to restrain everyone who is setting off their bed alarm or constantly pulling off their oxygen. But that's not appropriate or ethical. I'd ask for documentation about what is being done before chemical restraints are used. I'd look into providing a private caregiver if it's something you can afford. I'd look into how often it's being given. If it's multiple times a week, it's time to come up with an alternative solution. Maybe they need a med adjustment or have a new med added to their daily nighttime routine. Maybe a med is causing this increased agitation. Have they been screened for a UTI? |