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Learning Objectives

• This presentation will enable participants to: Identify the ligature risks in behavioral health, emergency department and inpatient settings and the expectations of healthcare organizations from a regulatory and accreditation perspective.
• Develop an understanding of the most prudent strategies for preventing self-harm in behavioral health, emergency department and inpatient settings.
• Learn the importance of a ligature risk assessment and the mitigation of ligature risks.

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Root cause analysis review of suicide attempts and deaths on veterans health administration mental health units as examined by the Center For Health Design.

In the article Designing for Behavioral Health Facilities authors Sine and Hunt explain the unique design requirements of behavioral health facilities as opposed to other medical facilities. They emphasize that facilities should avoid an institutional look and be made to look as residential as possible for the comfort of the patient.

In the article Inpatient Suicides: Recommendations for Prevention published by the Joint Commission in 1998, we see the first mention of inpatient suicide being a problem. Two years prior to this article, The Joint Commission started sending out “Sentinel Event Alerts” to bring awareness to adverse events in the medical field. This was the 7th of over 40 issues that have currently been released by The Joint Commission.

In the article Safety Goals for Behavioral Health, The Joint Commission explains that patients risk for suicide is a concern and hospitals should address this concern.

In the article Inpatient Suicide and Suicide Attempts in Veterans Affairs Hospitals The Joint Commission conducts a landmark study that reveals the root causes of inpatient suicide.