Posted: Friday, July 31, 2015
Union workers at the state hospital that houses 373 of Minnesota's most violent and mentally ill patients want more freedom to use restraints amid recent incidents resulting in injuries to staff members.
At Minnesota Security Hospital in St. Peter, the number of injuries suffered by staff so far this year is unprecedented, according to officials with Officials with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union Local 404. At least 68 hospital staffers have been injured on the job this year, including two who suffered concussions, according to Minnesota Occupational Safety and Health Administration records.
The union's request follows a
recent assault at the facility in which a security counselor was
hospitalized for severe head injuries, Minnesota Public Radio News
reported. A 16-year-old patient is accused of grabbing the counselor by
her hair, bashing her head against a wall and repeatedly kicking her in
the head.
Workers should be able to use
mobile restraints, such as padded leather cuffs attached to a belt, when
a patient acts violently, said AFSCME spokeswoman Jennifer Munt.
"We're now told that we can use
the (restraint) chair but we cannot use the padded cuffs," she said,
adding: "What the law permits and what's actually being implemented is
inconsistent."
Three years ago, the hospital was put on a conditional license for the overuse of seclusion and restraint.
Current policy at the hospital,
which is run by the Minnesota Department of Human Services, lists mobile
restraints and a number of other mechanical restraints as tools for
keeping patients from hurting themselves and others.
The policy allows workers to use
restraints in self-defense but not as punishment. But in the past, the
hospital commonly used mobile restraints while patients were in
protective isolation, which sometimes lasted for weeks or months.
"What some of our staff are
wondering is if we can return to the previous practice in which mobile
restraints were used for long periods of time in the absence of imminent
risk," said Steven Pratt, executive medical director for behavioral
health at the Department of Human Services, who oversees the security
hospital.
The policy also is complicated by
the definition of imminent risk, which Munt believes is subjective, and
the hospital's inability to retrain developmentally disabled patients,
when some of them also have mental illnesses that can cause violent
behavior, she said.
Minnesota Security Hospital
currently has 54 vacant counselor positions and filling those openings
would help reduce the number of staff injuries, according to AFSCME
officials.