Trading in Restraints for Alarms: Doing More than Just Turning Off The Noise

Back in the day, the fear of people falling or wandering was so significant that those with dementia were often tied into their chairs. The goal was to provide safety at all costs. Even worse, sometimes those restraints were for the sake of convenience. Fortunately, things have changed. As restraints were studied, researchers found that in general, more injuries- not less- and more serious ones, occurred when people were restrained. In today's world, restraints are used infrequently and many facilities have a restraint-free policy. This is great, but now we've exchanged restraints for many alarms. Bed alarms, chair alarms, door alarms... so much noise. These alarms are a thousand times better than the use of any restraints. They allow freedom of movement, and summon help when it's needed. However, whether the alarms are in use at a nursing home or in someone's own home, let's be intentional with our response to those alarms. Let's attempt to determine why the person was trying to get up and what he really needs, instead of just saying, "Let's sit down, Mr. Jones. We don't want you to fall." Let's walk with Mr. Jones and work on figuring out if he's bored, hungry, needs the bathroom or his legs need stretching. Let's assess if he's in pain or feeling depressed. Let's track whether this happens each day at the same time, and see if we can figure out how to proactively meet Mr. Jones' needs. That is, after all, what we would want if we were in his shoes, isn't it? Sugg...
Source: About Alzheimers Disease - Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news