A few weeks ago journalist Peter Korn published a story in the Portland Tribune about new data accumulated and released by the Oregon Department of Human Services about the number of times children have been secluded or restrained while within state certified day treatment centers or residential treatment centers.

READ – Hospital restraint figures revealed, Portland Tribune November 20, 2008

What the Tribune story did not show was the data itself, which we think is both illustrative, and if the DHS will provide the context of more than one quarter of data, perhaps illuminative of practices Oregon mental health treatment centers need to work harder to avoid.

Seclusion and restraint are two important tools in the kit of the hospital clinician, but should always be used as a last resort. Its single purpose is to keep the patient and the clinician safe – and should never be used a punishment, as a threat or coercion, or as a curative.

EXTRA – Restraint, seclusion of kids now tracked, Portland Tribune 12 10 2008

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