Willows Estate works to raise awareness about restraints
Home looks at ways to minimize seat belt use in wheelchairs
Monday May 12, 2008 -- Deron Hamel
Willows Estate is making it a priority to raise awareness about restraint use to reduce the risk of injury at the Aurora long-term care home.

Director of care Rosemary Ferraro says the home’s best practices committee met May 7 to share information about what staff members in long-term care homes need to know when using restraints.

Restraints are used in long-term care to safeguard against injury for residents who are at risk of falling. As per company policy, OMNI’s 17 long-term care homes do not use restraints on any resident unless the resident or their family has granted permission.

Restraints are equipped with mechanisms to allow individuals to remove them if they desire.

The overall goal of the meeting, says Ferraro, was to foster awareness that residents who use restraints need a lot of attention because there’s a potential to cause injury.

“It raises our awareness that when (residents using restraints) are on the floor staff members need to know who the people are who have a seat belt on and why,” says Ferraro.

Like other best practices committees at OMNI long-term care homes, Willows Estate’s team consists of staff members from every department. Ferraro notes that it’s important to engage every department in awareness about restraints because residents using seat belts move around the home.

For example, if a staff member from the laundry department were to see a resident using a restraint who may be agitated and at risk of injury, they would know how to assess the situation.

“They’ll understand what the process is that led that person to have a restraint, they’ll understand that maybe they’ll need to call the nurse, they’ll understand that maybe they need to talk with the resident,” says Ferraro. “It’s just a matter of education.”

As a safety measure, the home’s clinical care co-ordinator Jackie Rose recently checked the chair of each resident using a restraint to make sure they are in working order and pose no risk of injury to residents.

Life enrichment co-ordinator Teddy Mazzuca notes that Willows Estate is working to mitigate the use of restraints. The home’s walking program is one way team members are working to reduce the use of seat belts in the home. Residents who use restraints will often try to walk on their own if they become agitated. To prevent this, staff members watch these residents closely to make sure they are not upset.

“If we notice that they are starting to become agitated, then we walk with them and they do calm down,” she says.

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