Long-Term Care Survey Alert

Your best protection in the rare case that a "take down" does go down: Document, document, document.

Describe the staff's rationale for choosing that particular approach in managing physical aggression, advises Joanne Lax, an attorney in Bloomfield Hills, MI. And be prepared to demonstrate that the staff involved were trained in proper physical management techniques -- and found those techniques to be needed, Lax adds.

Important: Staff should receive specific training in how to use hands-on techniques for frail elders as an absolute last resort for managing physical aggression posing imminent danger. And they should have and practice a plan for using this last-resort intervention as safely as possible, including in instances where they have to break up a physical altercation between residents.