Are mittens a restraint at your facility?

Hi All,

Are mittens, used alone, considered a restraint at your facility?

I have worked at a couple of major magnet-designated medical centers and they have opposing views on classifying the use of mittens as a restraint. One says they are, and the other calls them a restraint alternative.

Just to be clear, I mean the boxing glove looking mittens that have velcro at the wrist to hold them on the patient's hands. These are NOT tied down in any way shape or form and the patient can still move his/her arms. Specifically, I use these in the ICU to keep patients who are sedated from pulling their ET tube or central line because obviously they are not thinking clearly!

Please let me know what your hospital's stance is... thanks!
Yes. I have one pt who needed the mitts to keep from pulling her PEG tube out. She has now managed to get the mitts off. They now use socks on her hands (but had to get an order for that, too).

These do not require an order where I work.

In my facility they are a form of restraint, but an order is not needed

Where I work 1 mitt is not considered a restraint, 2 mitts is considered a form of restraint. What is and isn't considered a restraint isn't really an issue where I work with intubated patients since wrist x2 restraints is a protocol order for intubated patients.

I should also add that the facility that considers mittens to be restraints is reporting them as part of restraints use in comparison to other Magnet hospitals (their numbers are considerably higher than the national average). I think the results are skewed because the other hospitals may not be counting the mittens in their audits and there is no way to tell which ones do or don't!

We do consider mittens to be restraints. They require a doctors order and have to be reevluated for continued usage every 24 hours.

Where I've worked, they were considered restraints, if two were on for sure. The patient cannot remove them if they are on both hands, and that is the reason why.

They are considered a restraint at my hospital and require a doctor's order.

Mittens are considered restraints. We also need a Doc order for kittens i.e. compassionate pet visit. ;0)

They used to be considered a restraint but a few months ago became a pre-restraint nursing intervention.

Anything that restricts a person ability to move is a restraint. Mittens, socks, are defiantly restraints and need a docs order and the usual re-evaluations according to facility policy. Any place that says two mittens on at one time is not a restraint is playing a dangerous game.

In my facility they are NOT considered a restraint is they are NOT tied to the bed. If they are they are considered a restraint, require a doctors order and RN documentation per our hospital policy.