§ 42-72.9-3 - Definitions.
SECTION 42-72.9-3
§ 42-72.9-3 Definitions. – For the purposes of this chapter:
(1) "Service provider" means any person employed orcontracted by a covered facility to provide direct care, residential treatment,education, or direct supervision of children.
(2) "Covered facility" means any agency, organization, orpublic or private entity that provides any of the following for children,regardless of the state agency under whose authority its license isestablished: residential treatment, including in-house educational programming;in-patient or residential psychiatric treatment for mental illness; and groupor shelter home care pursuant to a licensed granted by the department ofchildren, youth, and families. The term "covered facility" does not include thepublic school system or psychiatric hospitals, or the Rhode Island trainingschool for youth. The department of children, youth, and families willpromulgate policies and regulations in accordance with § 42-72.9-9relative to the use of seclusion and restraint at the Rhode Island trainingschool for youth on or before January 1, 2001.
(3) "Therapeutic physical restraint" means the acceptable useof a staff member's body to immobilize or reduce the free movement of achild/youth's arms, legs, torso, or head, in order to ensure the physicalsafety of a child/youth or other individual in the facility. The term does notinclude: (i) briefly holding a person in order to calm or comfort the person;(ii) restraint involving the minimum contact necessary to safely escort theperson from one area to another.
(4) "Mechanical restraint" means any approved mechanicalrestriction that immobilizes or reduces the free movement of a child/youth'sarms, legs, torso, or head in order to hold a child/youth safely including: (i)medical devices, including, but not limited to, supports prescribed by a healthcare provider to achieve proper body position or balance; (ii) helmets or otherprotective gear used to protect a person from injuries due to a fall; or (iii)helmets, mitts and similar devices used to prevent self-injury when the deviceis part of a documented treatment plan and is the least restrictive meansavailable to prevent the self-injury.
(5) "Life threatening physical restraint" means any physicalrestraint or hold on a child that restricts the flow of air into a person'slungs, whether by chest compression or any other means.
(6) "Chemical restraint" means a medication used to controlbehavior or restrict the patient's freedom of movement and is not a standardtreatment for the child's medical or psychiatric condition.
(7) "Seclusion" means the involuntary confinement of achild/youth in a room in a covered facility, whether alone or with staffsupervision, in a manner that prevents the child/youth from leaving. Thisdefinition does not pertain to the use of "time out" as an acceptable form ofshort-term behavioral management nor does it pertain to covered facilitieswhere the terms of seclusion are defined pursuant to particular judicialdecrees.
(8) "Time out" means the brief separation of a child/youthfrom the group not to exceed twenty (20) minutes, designed to de-escalate thechild/youth. During the "Time out," a child/youth's freedom of movement is notrestricted and the child/youth need not be directly supervised, but must bevisually monitored.