| Summary: | Hospitals operate with the primary goal of improving the health of individuals who seek health care services. Despite this, a small proportion of patients experience unintended harm during their hospital stay; 37% of these adverse events are considered preventable. Older adults are particularly vulnerable to adverse events during their hospital stay as they tend to be frailer and have more comorbidities than their younger counterparts. In particular, falls in the hospital setting are three times more likely than in the community. The ideology of restraint use is to prevent patients from harming themselves (e.g., patient is a high risk for sustaining a fall) or others (e.g., patient displays dangerous behavior towards care staff or other patients). Restraints are often described as a chemical or a physical restraint. This report aims to summarize the evidence regarding the clinical effectiveness and evidence-based guidelines for the use or avoidance of physical restraints among hospitalized older adults
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