What does ‘ligature-resistant’ mean?
The term ‘ligature-resistant’ describes any object that is designed to reduce the ability of securing a ligature to it.
As such, ligature-resistant design plays a crucial role in protecting those who are most vulnerable in behavioral health environments through reducing the risk of self-harm or suicide by use of a ligature.
Best practices within design for behavioral health facilities have greatly improved in recent years through collaborative efforts to create safer environments. Ligature-resistant design is one of the factors that has played a key role in this.
What is a 'ligature'?
A ‘ligature’ is any item that can be used to tie or bind something tightly, such as a rope, cord, or items of clothing or bedding.
Such items are commonly used in suicide attempts within behavioral health settings and challenging environments by anchoring them to ‘ligature points’ – a point on furniture, architecture, or any other physical object susceptible to ligature attachment.
Ligature-resistant design reduces the presence of these ligature points and therefore plays an essential role in mitigating the risk of a ligature being used to self-harm.
Why is 'ligature-resistant' design important in behavioral healthcare?
A study carried out in 2018 into the National Violent Death Reporting System and Sentinel Event databases found that hanging was the most common method of inpatient suicide in the United States, accounting for 70.5% of all inpatient suicide events. Of these suicides by hanging, 53.8% used a door as a ligature point. Further, 90% of inpatient suicides took place in private spaces such as the bedroom, bathroom or shower.
These findings support The Joint Commission’s recommendation that inpatient psychiatric units should be ligature-resistant in patient rooms, patient bathrooms, corridors and common patient care areas.
What ligature-resistant solutions are available for behavioral health?
Kingsway offer an extensive range of ligature-resistant internal door sets for behavioral and psychiatric healthcare facilities to ensure the ligature risk can be reduced in any given area, including; patient bedrooms, staff areas, communal spaces, washroom facilities and more.
Our Ligature-Resistant Door Systems are designed in collaboration with healthcare professionals and Experts by Experience to help prevent patient self-harm or suicide within challenging environments. Through our expertise gained in delivering ligature-resistant solutions for over 10,000 projects globally, we ensure the best-suited materials are selected to deliver the robustness and reliability demanded by behavioral health environments.
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Ligature-Resistant Products for Behavioral Health
Aesthetically pleasing without sacrificing safety or security, our specialist Ligature-Resistant Doors and products improve patient and staff safety within behavioral health environments while contributing to creating calming, de-institutionalized spaces. And as Your Partner in Patient Safety, all our Ligature-Resistant Door Systems come with a 3-Year Guarantee at no extra cost.
In addition to ligature-resistant door systems, we offer a number of ligature-resistant Division 10 solutions to reduce risk within behavioral and psychiatric healthcare settings, including High-Strength Seating Solutions, Washroom Dispensers, Grab Bars & Handrails, Shatter-Resistant Mirrors, Coat & Towel Hooks, Vision Panels and more.
What are 'Ligature Alarms'?
Ligature Monitors or Ligature Alarms detect and alert staff to ligature attempts to allow swift clinical intervention during a life-threatening incident. Our SWING Door Top Monitor Door System features an integrated ligature monitor that will alert staff if a patient attempts to anchor or wedge a ligature at the door’s top edge.
To maximize the benefits of ligature monitors and support staff further, we have also developed our KOSMOS Smart Monitoring System – the next-generation ligature monitoring software. KOSMOS provides live ligature monitoring across wards with early warning indicators to enable proactive clinical intervention and a complete audit trail of alarm events and observations.
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Want to learn more about our Ligature-Resistant solutions?
Why not book an online demonstration? We’ll provide you with live 1-to-1 product demonstrations remotely from our ligature-resistant showroom at a time of your convenience, as well as answering any questions you may have based on our experience in delivering over 10,000 risk-reducing projects.
Simply request a demo below and we’ll be in touch!
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The best ideas start as conversations. To learn more about how our ligature-resistant solutions can help you improve patient safety, reach out to a member of our team today.