No. A restraint is when you are keeping a patient in some sort of way against their will. All bed rails up is considered a restraint because it prevents the patient from getting up from the bed. A bed alarm alerts staff that a patient is wanting or needing to get up for whatever reason. It isn’t keeping the patient from getting out of bed. However, if it deemed that it is extremely unsafe for the patient to be out of bed, the staff can put the patient back to bed and address the patient’s needs. Any form of restraint has to have a specific protocol. First, my hospital tries to get a sitter to sit 1:1. Sitters can help redirect the patient and help them find things to do instead of trying to get up. If we need to go further for whatever reason, we have to get a physicians order.
