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Open research questions in Healthcare Decision-Making and Restraints

356 gap statements mined from Healthcare Decision-Making and Restraints papers in our 7.9M-paper local library, which holds 2,352 papers on the topic — drawn mostly from each paper's own stated research gap, future-work, challenge and limitation notes, and its abstract. The ones listed below are a selection still marked open; each names the study that raised it, with a DOI link where the paper has one.

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What the literature leaves open

  • The legal reform coincided with the COVID-19 pandemic, which may have confounded the results. Differential pandemic effects across age groups and countries cannot be excluded. The study's findings may be limited by the use of a single region in Sweden and the lack of data on other potential confounders.

    Impact of legislative reform on coercive measure use in child and adolescent psychiatry: A controlled interrupted time series analysis · 2026 · DOI

  • Limited evidence on the effectiveness of legislative reforms in reducing coercive measure use. A need for studies evaluating the impact of legislative changes on coercive measure use in child and adolescent psychiatry. A lack of controlled interrupted time series studies examining the effects of legislative reforms on coercive measure use.

    Impact of legislative reform on coercive measure use in child and adolescent psychiatry: A controlled interrupted time series analysis · 2026 · DOI

  • The findings showed that physical restraint elicited diverse thoughts and emotions among nurses, who reported difficulties in coping with these emotions and insufficient knowledge of restraint procedures.

    Experiences of Intensive Care Nurses in Their Practice of Physical Restraint Among Patients: A Qualitative Study · 2026 · DOI

  • De-escalation is recommended as the first-line, least restrictive response to agitation and aggression in acute psychosis, yet randomized evidence for the technique itself remains scarce.

    De-escalation for Minimizing Coercion in Acute Psychosis: Evidence and Challenges · 2026 · DOI

  • However, the process of implementing this legislation into practice remains unclear for therapists.

    Assessment of older adults' decision‐making capacity for independent living: Findings from a nominal group technique meeting in Ireland · 2025 · DOI

  • Research data on the extent of and protocols related to physical restraint (PR) in pediatric intensive care units (PICUs) are scarce.

    Physical Restraint in a Pediatric Intensive Care Unit: A Cross-Sectional, Observational Study in China · 2025 · DOI

  • There is a lack of explicit recognition of supported decision-making in federal research regulations. There are legal barriers to the greater use of supported decision-making.

    The Legal Landscape for Supported Decision-Making in the United States and its Application to Clinical Research · 2026 · DOI

  • Future research should focus on multisite and mixed-methods studies to examine the prevalence, determinants, and outcomes of restraint, evaluate the effectiveness and implementation of restraint-reduction strategies and alternatives in resource-limited settings, and generate comparative evidence across Tanzania and sub-Saharan Africa to inform context-appropriate, rights-based policies and practice.

    Patients’ experiences and perceptions of physical restraint in psychiatric care: A descriptive qualitative study at Muhimbili National Hospital · 2026 · DOI

  • The challenge of making decisions for patients who lack decision-making capacity. The challenge of balancing the patient's autonomy with their need for care.

    Treating against a stated refusal · 2026 · DOI

  • Future research should investigate the implementation of epistemic adequacy in mental health systems. Future research should examine the impact of artificial intelligence on epistemic adequacy in mental health. Future research should explore the development of criteria for functional adequacy and cross-context consistency.

    Epistemic Adequacy: A Ground for Human Rights in Psychiatry · 2026 · DOI

  • The possibility that surrogate authority may be exercised by proxies whose motives are shaped by financial or personal self-interest has received limited attention in the philosophical literature. The structural vulnerability of the substituted judgment standard has not been fully addressed.

    Autonomy under uncertainty: the structural limits of substituted judgment in clinical practice · 2026 · DOI

  • The gap between statutory rule and everyday medical activity remains in the operation of the informed-consent rule. The existing literature has not adequately addressed the practical dilemmas in the operation of the Civil Code's informed-consent rule.

    Practical dilemmas and communication reconstruction of patients' right to informed consent under the Civil Code · 2026 · DOI

  • The study highlights the need for further research on the effectiveness of digital platforms in providing mental health services.

    Analysis of the Implementation of the Rights of Patients with Mental Disorders to Access Health Services in HospitalsProf. Dr. Muhammad Ildrem North Sumatra · 2026 · DOI

  • The study faced challenges in developing a brief and pragmatic assessment tool that could be applied in the immediate perioperative workflow. The study had to balance the need for a standardized questionnaire with the need for a tool that could be tailored to both elective and trauma settings.

    Informed Consent in Orthopaedic Surgery: When a Signature Does Not Mean Understanding: A Prospective Study of 750 Patients Comparing Elective and Trauma Settings · 2026 · DOI

  • The extent to which patients truly understand surgical information in the perioperative setting remains uncertain. Limited comprehension of surgical informed consent may be particularly problematic in orthopaedic surgery, where trauma pathways are often characterized by urgency, pain, and emotional stress.

    Informed Consent in Orthopaedic Surgery: When a Signature Does Not Mean Understanding: A Prospective Study of 750 Patients Comparing Elective and Trauma Settings · 2026 · DOI

  • The gap between the current functionalised model of care and the need for continuity of care. The lack of comprehensive knowledge of the patient's history in critical decision-making.

    Clinical memory, functionalisation and fragmentation of care in UK psychiatry · 2026 · DOI

  • Patients with femur fractures often experience anxiety due to limited understanding of the procedure, risks, and outcomes of surgery. Healthcare professionals face challenges in providing proper implementation of informed consent procedures.

    THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CONSENT AND ANXIETY IN PATIENTS WITH FEMUR FRACTURES AT RADEN MATTAHER HOSPITAL · 2026 · DOI

  • Importance: The effect of wrist-strap physical restraints on outcomes in patients receiving mechanical ventilation in the intensive care unit (ICU) remains uncertain.

    Restrictive vs Liberal Physical Restraint Strategies in Critically Ill Patients · 2026 · DOI

  • The study had to address the issue of lacking a dedicated pediatric psychiatric inpatient unit, with patients requiring inpatient admission being boarded in the ED pending transfer to external facilities.

    Age-Dependent Restraint Patterns in Pediatric Emergency Department Patients With Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Brief Report · 2026 · DOI

  • There is a lack of age-stratified examination of restraint use in pediatric ED patients with ASD. The study aims to address this gap by analyzing restraint patterns in this population. The paper provides new insights into the developmental patterns of restraint use in pediatric ED patients with ASD.

    Age-Dependent Restraint Patterns in Pediatric Emergency Department Patients With Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Brief Report · 2026 · DOI

  • Involuntary hospitalisation rates vary greatly across Europe, but the effects of this phenomenon have been poorly studied.

    Involuntary commitment and medical education on mental health diseases across Europe · 2024 · DOI

  • Expanding involuntary hospitalization is not sufficient to support long-term treatment for people with severe mental health issues.

    Policy Analysis of Involuntary Psychiatric Hospital Admission in New York · 2026 · DOI

  • Rather than determining what is objectively best for the patient — the alternative best interests standard — it requires the surrogate to reconstruct the decision the patient would have made under current circumstances. The normative ambition 1 3B.

    Autonomy under uncertainty: the structural limits of substituted judgment in clinical practice · 2026 · DOI

  • Most state EMS protocols do not include modifications or specific guidance for older adults. None of the protocols reviewed provide modifications to guidance for physical restraint use, prioritization between physical restraint and chemical sedation, or sedative medication selection when treating older adults.

    Exploring Current Emergency Medical Services Approaches to Manage Agitated Older Adult Patients: An Analysis of Statewide Protocols · 2026 · DOI

  • The paper identifies a gap between normative commitments and clinical reality in mental health. The paper identifies a gap in the system's capacity for context-sensitive judgment. The paper identifies a gap in the consideration of epistemic adequacy in decision-making processes.

    Epistemic Adequacy: A Ground for Human Rights in Psychiatry · 2026 · DOI

Most-cited papers in Healthcare Decision-Making and Restraints

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Open questions raised by papers listed on this page include: (1) The study's findings may be limited by the use of a single region in Sweden and the lack of data on other potential confounders (“Impact of legislative reform on coercive measure use in child and adolescent…”, 2026); (2) De-escalation is recommended as the first-line, least restrictive response to agitation and aggression in acute psychosis, yet randomized evidence for the technique itself remains scarce (“De-escalation for Minimizing Coercion in Acute Psychosis: Evidence and…”, 2026); (3) There is a lack of explicit recognition of supported decision-making in federal research regulations (“The Legal Landscape for Supported Decision-Making in the United States and its…”, 2026); (4) Future research should investigate the implementation of epistemic adequacy in mental health systems (“Epistemic Adequacy: A Ground for Human Rights in Psychiatry”, 2026); (5) The lack of comprehensive knowledge of the patient's history in critical decision-making (“Clinical memory, functionalisation and fragmentation of care in UK psychiatry”, 2026). 356 gap statements have been mined from Healthcare Decision-Making and Restraints papers in our 7.9M-paper local library, which holds 2,352 papers on the topic; the gaps come from whichever of those papers state one. They are mostly the research gaps the authors state and the papers' abstracts, plus future-work, limitations and challenges passages. The ones listed below are a selection still marked open; each names the study that raised it, with a DOI link where the paper has one, so you can read the original claim in context.

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