FPOP Bulletin: Psychology of Older People
Behaviours that Challenge in acute care: Rethinking psychological support and the use of sedatives
Chemical restraint is a term often associated with discomfort, unease and ethical uncertainty. It suggests a moment where a person’s autonomy is overridden, where distress is interpreted through the lens of risk and where medication replaces understanding. Yet in acute medical settings, particularly emergency departments, assessment units, and frailty wards, situations arise in which sedative medication is used. This is rarely due to careless or poorly informed clinicians; rather, it reflects the environment itself …