Wednesday, January 05, 2011

Seclusion and restraint in Canada

Patients in psychiatric hospitals are often put on their own - in seclusion - for a while until they calm down and stop being a danger to either themselves or others. However, researchers don't know that much about how often it happens or which people are most likely to be placed in seclusion. Researchers from Montreal University studied 2,721 psychiatric patients. They found that 23.2% of them had been placed in seclusion and that 17.5% of them had been secluded with (physical) restraint. Being young; suffering from schizophrenia or psychosis; suffering from bipolar or personality disorder and having to stay in hospital for a longer time were all associated with seclusion while being young, having bipolar or personality disorder and staying for a longer time in hospital were all associated with having to be physically restrained.

Dumais, A. ... [et al] - Prevalence and correlates of seclusion with or without restraint in a Canadian psychiatric hospital: a 2-year retrospective audit Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2850.2010.01679.x

1 comment:

cheryl said...

I am an RN now working in the US. I use to work psych 20 years ago in Vancouver. We did not have to do any 'paper work' in regards to these seclusion events. Want to know if paper work has to be done in Canada around these events these days.