Behavioral settings are tailor-made for risk assessments

I heard about a surveyor who correctly noted that gooseneck faucets could be considered a hanging risk for behavioral patients.

This is where the risk assessment process blooms in all its beauty. The behavioral health physical environment is chock-a-block full of all sorts of risks — big ones, small ones, subtle ones, dramatic ones, etc.

The only way that you can reduce survey exposure is to:

• Look at each individual component of the behavioral health environment (and don’t forget the rooms in the ED that are used for crisis patients)
• Based on the type, acuity, etc. of your patient population, identify what elements are of no risk, moderate risk, and severe risk
• Establish a prioritized plan for eliminating or reducing those risks to the extent possible

In those instances where you have significant risks, but you can’t completely correct them, you have to identify what interim measures you’ve put in place to manage the risks until such time as you can implement the substantive changes to the environment.