The Canadian Institute for Health Information defines a restraint as any manual method or any physical or mechanical device, material or equipment attached or adjacent to the person's body that the person cannot remove easily and that restricts the person's freedom of movement or normal access to his or her body.
It is the effect the device has on the person that classifies it as a restraint, not the name or label given to the device, nor the purpose or intent of the device.
For reporting frequency of use, a numerical code is used: 0 for not used, 1 for used, less than daily and 2 for used daily.
Bed rails are coded by their frequency of use, regardless of the condition of the patient.
For trunk and limb restraints, if the patient has no voluntary movement, is specifically comatose or quadriplegic, code 0 is used.
Otherwise, the patient is coded by frequency of use.
For chair restraints that prevents rising, if the patient has no voluntary movement, is specifically comatose or quadriplegic, code 0 is used. Otherwise, the patient is coded by frequency of use.
If the patient does not have the physical ability or cognitive capacity to rise from any chair, code 0 is used. Otherwise, the patient is coded by frequency of use.
This is the national standard used by all health regions including Northern Health.
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