Seclusion and Restraint in Psychiatric Hospitals

Nurses have a responsibility to protect patients from injuries. This responsibility, however, can be challenging especially when for patients with mental illness. Most mentally ill patients may suffer from confusion, delirium, and restlessness due to persistent pain, sleep deprivation, drug withdrawal, and other underlying factors. As a result, they may show restless behaviours such as throwing things around, attempting to get out of their beds, removing catheters, and hitting those around them. To ensure their safety and that of others, health care providers may decide to use physical restraints. The use of restraints, however, is associated with a range of harmful impacts such as depression, pressure ulcers, severe injuries, and death. This paper provides a summary of two articles to help in the understanding of how previous studies approached the topic at hand, which examines the use of restraints in Jamaican mental health.Seclusion and Restraint in Psychiatric Hospitals