Black people are more likely to be physically restrained in emergency rooms, study finds By Anika NayakSept. 25, 2023

https://www.statnews.com/2023/09/25/emergency-departments-restraints-racial-disparities/?utm_campaign=morning_rounds&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=275724841&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_E4BwVBfwfKjew7tIvWC63vtPcTR73X0pvomUL0cWCKBSZDTDbnufwN1Dmj9wdl_ddKXpLNOWuQgaMDpcH8w7g-TDPQQ&utm_content=275724841&utm_source=hs_email Black patients are more likely to be physically restrained than patients from other racial groups, according to new research out of the University of California, San Francisco, and University of California, Davis. A systematic review that performed a meta-analysis of six studies and looked at over 1.6 million patient encounters showed that restraints were used in ERs in less than 1% of clinical encounters. But Black patients were 31% more likely to be placed in restraints than white patients. Using physical restraints is meant to be a last result in emergency rooms. The study did not directly address the underlying reasons that Black adults are at greater risk of being physically restrained than other groups, but researchers hypothesize that “structural racism plays an important role,” as one of the study’s authors told STAT’s Anika Nayak.