Università degli studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia

Università degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia
Corso di laurea in infermieristica - Sede di Modena

Abstract

In assisting older people, physical restraint is a common practice. This procedure is intended as a healthcare assistance act to guarantee the safety of the person in question, of the other  patients  and of  the  nurses.
The effective effectiveness of the restraining interventions has not been clearly demonstrated, and the use of them often exposes the subject to the risk of damage to health, sometimes serious. A problem that arises with restraint is the mala praxis, that is when rigorous and shared procedures are not respected, after diagnostic and technical evaluation. The use of restrictive measures in care, including physical and mechanical restraint, isolation procedures and pharmacological restraint, seem to have been widespread in western countries for a long time, although they are the cause of extensive ethical, legal and clinical discussions. The present thesis proposed to investigate the reality of restraint in the management of the geriatric patient, in the face of an exponential increase in the number of elderly people and of the comorbidities associated with it. A review of the literature was carried out investigating the international guidelines, from which it is clear first of all the duty to share the real needs and the actual problems of the person with the team and with the caregivers and the need to implement alternative routes. Furthermore, it is underlined how essential it is that operators are aware of the extreme necessity of this practice and of the obligation to document continuous monitoring in a clinical record. The nurse, therefore, has the duty to always watch over the person being cared for, with an emphasis on his needs and rights, guaranteeing his safety.