"There can be no medical treatment of a violent patient without restraint." - Dr. Lloyd Denmark, Chief Coroner - Calgary, 2004
Imagine a team of paramedics confronted with a violent patient who requires immediate medical intervention; even if first restrained and handcuffed by law enforcement officers, in order for appropriate medical treatment to be administered the cuffs must be removed - then what?
Imagine an aggressive or violent patient requiring urgent medical care delivered to a hospital emergency room, trauma centre or rural health care facility. What techniques are you confident that your personnel can use or apply to restrain the patient in the safest manner possible?
What policies and procedures are in place to aid medical care professionals in your organization to fully understand the moral and legal implications of patient restraint?
If your medical organization has firm policies, procedures, tactics and devices supported by training that is legally and medically defensible - good for you! Historically however, this emerging issue facing medical professionals is not commonly addressed. Typically, paramedics, ER nurses, ER doctors and hospital security personnel are often left up to their own devices to manage this issue. This usually results in non-standard techniques being used in an attempt to restrain a patient and a variety of ad-hoc restraint devices being invented ‘on the fly'. The risk inherent in this shortcoming is the likelihood of injuries to health care staff or further injury to the patient during the restraint process or from the use of improper restraint devices.
The Humane Patient Restraint Techniques program is specifically designed to meet the unique needs of front line medical health care professionals. With the rise in proliferation of mind altering drugs and other central nervous system stimulants and hallucinogens, frontline medical personnel are faced with patient restraint challenges like never before.
Based upon the philosophy that all medical intervention is predicated on the principle of ‘Do No Harm', the Humane Patient Restraint program provides tactics and techniques to restrain a violent or aggressive patient in a manner that minimizes the risk to the patient and medical personnel.
Utilizing a blend of physical control tactics and the BodyCuff© restraint system, the student will understand the implications of restraining a patient, how to approach and restrain, how to transition from law enforcement handcuffs to the restraint system, how to secure a restrained patient for safe transport in ground or air ambulance.
The basic HPRT course is four hours and consists of classroom and static practical application of the restraint techniques. The advanced HPRT course is eight hours and consists of the basic HPRT components plus dynamic scenario-based training in the medical environment.
For more information on the HPRT course or the BodyCuff restraint device, please contact Raptor Protection and Safety Services.
