Eger Health Care & Rehabilitation: Success with Restraint Reduction

The Eger Team. Left to Right, top row: Adrienne Liander, Associate Vice President for Nursing Services; Dr. James Lamier, Medical Director; Christine Brown, Case Manager. Bottom left: Maureen Guiry, Director of Case Management and Dorothy White, Vice President for Nursing.

Reviewing the quality measures and observing that their facility's physical restraint numbers were more than double the state average, Eger Health Care & Rehabilitation decided to develop an action plan geared toward restraint reduction. Working with other departments, Nursing and Rehabilitation devised a plan that focused on staff, family, and resident education regarding restraints.

On every unit, staff members received hands-on in-service education on the use of each restraint, the medical necessity requirement, alternatives, encouraging continuous awareness, and review of residents using restraints.
The ongoing resident restraint reduction plan was documented on the 24-hour report.
The team reached out to families resistant to restraint reduction and included them in the monitoring activity of their family member in bed and chair, to further validate "unsafe movements."
The medical staff was re-educated on restraint use.

Hard work, re-enforcement of protocols and staff diligence over a two-year period enabled Eger to decrease the physical restraint measure from 16% to 4%. The facility's Restraint Quality Measure is now below the state and national averages.