Characteristics of psychiatric hospitalizations with multiple mechanical restraint episodes versus hospitalization with a single mechanical restraint episode

•Factors connected with multiple restraints in comparison with single restraint were identified.•Length of hospital stay, young age and not being early readmitted were associated with multiple restraints.•It seems that various strategies could be implemented to prevent multiple restraint usage.

We investigated the characteristics of multiple episodes of mechanical restraint versus a single episode in a psychiatric ward of a public general hospital. The following characteristics were associated with multiple restraints: young age, length of hospital stay, not being readmitted within 30 days from previous discharge, and admission in the previous year before the implementation of an intervention program to reduce mechanical restraint. The study suggests that both organizational factors and patients’ disturbed behaviour are associated with the risk of being mechanically restrained several times.