The Joint Commission is based in Chicago and is a non-profit organization that inspects and accredits in excess of 20,000 North American health care facilities. They also have an international arm that services medical facilities around the globe.
Why is the Joint Commission so necessary?
Most of American State healthcare governments recognize their accreditation as a condition that allows healthcare facilities to take Medicaid or Medicare patients. Without this accreditation the healthcare facilities are not enabled to take in Medicare or Medicaid a patient, which drastically reduces the revenue of the facility as well as not providing essential healthcare services to the people that need them.
The Joint Commission regularly inspects the healthcare facilities and in our experience in mental health, they assess if the facility is offering the correct treatment and meeting patient’s expectation for treatment care – as well as providing a safe and secure environment whilst the patient is in the facility. More details for the JCAHO can be found at http://www.jointcommission.org/
What happens during a typical inspection?
Once the Joint Commission staff is on site, they will assess random files to ensure the patients are receiving the care necessary to recover, or at least have a good quality of life. The Joint Commission staff then inspects the facilities to ensure there are no possible ligature points where anyone could potentially harm themselves. This covers everything from door handles, towel rails and even television sets on the wall.
Regular issues discovered during an inspection.
One of the most common issues raised during an inspection is that televisions are left mounted on the wall without the necessary protection to the TV bracket, cables and even the television itself. Back in 2012 ProEnc was contacted by the Joint Commission panel to design and manufacture a protective ligature resistant TV enclosure https://www.lcdtvenclosure.com/anti-ligature-tv-enclosure/proenc-ligature-resistant-tv-enclosure that could be used to protect any brand of television in most sizes from 17” to 70”.
Problems for the mental healthcare facility.
A report dating back to 2012 (http://www.psychiatrictimes.com/suicide/inpatient-suicide-identifying-vulnerability-hospital-setting) states that from the 30,000 suicides per year 6% are in mental health hospitals. This 6% is 1800 suicides of which 450 result in a legal claim against the facilities and when put in front of jurors a mental health facility is thought of having the best solution position to prevent these types of deaths.
With 75% of suicides resulting from hanging, ligature resistant products are essential to protect both the patients from self-harm and the hospital from any legal claim should anything happen.
ProEnc’s solutions.
ProEnc offer a wide range of solutions from their surface mounted TV enclosure, recessed solution and their ceiling mounted unit, being the originator of the ligature resistant TV enclosure, they have a vast knowledge of what is essential to protect patients and safeguard the healthcare facility from legal action.
ProEnc can be contacted on (862) 234-5981 to discuss your requirements for ligature resistant TV enclosures and comply with the Joint Commission.