Clients' Physical Restraint Management: Nursing Approach

Unpredictable, aggressive behaviours from clients occur and it is undeniable that there are difficulties regarding their physical restraint because professionals do not have a common understanding about the theme. The research question of this study is: What are the clients’ physical restraint measures that nurses, in the surgery Department of the Unidade Local de Saude de Matosinhos (ULSM), E.P.E, usually implement in their clinical practice? The purpose of this exploratory-descriptive quantitative research was to develop a clients’ physical restraint management. We have had a non-probabilistic convenience sample, constituted by 182 clients admitted in the Surgery Department of the ULSM, E.P.E. A questionnaire was applied. The results pointed out that there were numerous physical restraint measures usually implemented by nurses and the most significant were: to equip the bed with side rails that allow protection and client’s safety (98.1%), to switch decubitus in order to prevent pressure ulcers (94.4%) and the client’s status that determined the need for restraint (94.4%).Thus, we recommend a protocol proposal for the client’s physical restraint that enables safety and quality in the nursing practice.