The January 2018 issue of The Joint Commission’s Perspectives addresses the recommendations that came from the Expert Panel’s third meeting (October 2017) regarding ligature attachment and other risks in non-hospital settings such as:
Residential Treatment
Partial Hospitalization
Intensive Outpatient
Outpatient Treatment
The three new recommendations, (#14-16) state that these settings:
#14. Are not required to be ligature resistant.
#15. An environmental safety risk assessment must be performed for staff training purposes.
#16. Policies and procedures for managing patients who may be escalating and for whom self-harm may be an issue while waiting for transfer to a higher level of care.
NOTE: Both James M. Hunt and David M. Sine are members of, and active participants in, this Expert Panel.