Quality & Patient Safety

Illinois hospital stays restraint free for five years

Patient Safety Monitor, June 1, 2010

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The Cancer Treatment Centers (CTC) of America at Midwestern Regional Medical Center in Zion, IL, believes in the “mother standard of care,” or treating patients as if they are family members or “your own mother,” says Kimberly Bertini, RN, Coordinator for the ANCC Magnet Recognition Program® at CTC.

For years, CTC used restraints on patients who became confused because of brain metastasis, chemotherapy brain, or a mixture of pain medications.

However, Bertini says staff members at CTC were uncomfortable using the restraints on patients, and many opted to stay overtime and sit with patients to refrain from using the restraints. “We noticed the staffs’ reaction to placing patients in restraints,” says Bertini. “We decided it was time to make a change and actually begin treating patients like they are our mother.” In 2005, CTC quit restraints “cold turkey” to mirror this belief and culture of the organization. Since then, CTC continues to decrease patients’ length of stay, falls, and has only had one outstanding case in which a patient needed restraints because of the danger posed to him- or herself.

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