Breaking loose. Use of physical restraints in nursing homes in Queensland, Australia

A survey was completed by 123/203 (61%). Directors of Nursing of Queensland's nursing homes, to obtain information about the use of physical restraints. Of a total of about 6500 (4693 females; 1807 males) nursing home residents in Queensland, Australia, 23.6% (1536) were reported to have been physically restrained at the time the survey was completed. Of this group, females comprised 72.9% (1120) and males 27.1% (416). The commonest forms of physical restraint were bedrails (38.2%) and restraining belts (23.7%). The commonest patient-oriented reason for using physical restraints was to "prevent falls" (85.4%) and the commonest nurse-oriented reason was "because no alternative exists" (39.8%). The correlation between the size of nursing homes (bed numbers) and the number of residents was strong and positive, indicating that Queensland nursing homes were functioning at full capacity (r = 0.999, a = 0.05). The correlation between the size of nursing homes (bed numbers) and the number of residents who were physically restrained was weak and negative (r = 0.002, a = 0.05), suggesting that nursing home size did not predict the use of physical restraints. Correlations between the total number of staff, the total number of untrained staff (assistants in nursing) and the number of residents who were physically restrained were also weak (r = 0.0427; 0.0695 respectively; a = 0.05), suggesting that these factors also had little predictive influence on the use of physical restraints. The findings of this research indicate that the extent to which physical restraints are currently being used in nursing homes in Queensland should be of concern, particularly in the context of a general, contemporary professional belief that the use of physical restraints in nursing homes should be minimised, if not entirely avoided.