What Does the History of Inpatient Psychiatric Unit Design Tell Us About Balancing Safety and Healing for Patients With Suicidal Behaviors?

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Abstract

Since the Joint Commission shifted its focus to suicide mitigation strategy implementation in behavioral health units in 2007, examining modern design trends in historical context is more clinically and ethically important than ever. This article considers architectural evolutions in how health care organizations have used structure and space designs to balance safety and healing when housing patients who are suicidal.

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AUTHOR INFORMATION

• Alice J. Liu recently completed her third year of medical school at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. She is currently enrolled as a graduate student at UT Austin, where she is pursuing an MA in design with a focus on health. Her professional interests include exploring the relationship between architectural design in hospitals or outpatient clinics and patient experience.

• David S. Im, MD is a clinical assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Michigan Medical School in Ann Arbor. He is also the medical director of the Adult Psychiatry Inpatient Program at Michigan Medicine. His professional interests include mood and anxiety disorders, treatment of aggression in autism spectrum disorder, and clinician mental health.

• Laura D. Hirshbein, MD, PhD is a professor of psychiatry and a professor of history at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. She has published widely on the history of 19th- and 20th-century American psychiatry and teaches about the importance of critical approaches to context in contemporary medical thought and practice.