Belt Restraint In Nursing

In this scenario, the nurse’s justification of placing a belt restraint on Olive is parentalistic. According to Benjamin (1992) parentalism means that a person who is acting as if they have authority, is treating an adult as if they were a child. In order for this act of parentalism to be justified: 1) the subject must be ignorant of relevant information, or his/her capacity of rational reflection is impaired, 2) the subject is likely to be significantly harmed if there is no interference, or 3) it is reasonable to assume that the subject will later on ratify the decision to interfere by consenting to it (Benjamin, 1992). Because Olive meets only two out of three of this criterion, I believe that she should not have to wear the belt restraint.

In this scenario, Olive has had previous falls and the nurse is alarmed that there could be serious physical consequences. I believe that the nurse is definitely correct in thinking that something serious could come from Olive falling, and that something should be done in order to keep this from happening. On the other hand, I believe that something less restricting could be done first, such as a chair/bed alarm, before going straight to making Olive wear a belt restraint. By making Olive wear a belt restraint, it may make the lives of the nurses a little bit easier, but it takes away Olives sense of freedom and ability that she feels strongly about. If something such as a chair/bed alarm were to not work in this scenario, then more drastic measures could be thought about. Until then, I believe that Olive should be kept out of a belt restraint. The last criteria that Benjamin (1992) mentioned in order to justify an act of parentalism, is that it is reasonable to assume that the subject will later on realize the importance of the interference and consent to it. I believe that Olive does fit to this criterion. If Olive were to fall now that she has not consented to using a belt restraint, I believe that she would slowly realize the importance in having the restraint on. Although it may take a while for her to come to this realization, I believe that she would in the long