A key priority of our agency during 2014 was to improve outcomes among patients on their path to Recovery at the State Hospital. Our Hospital team cares for people who have mental health issues, whether for civil reasons or committed through the criminal courts. We also oversee the Arizona Community Protection and Treatment Center.

In 2013 we began the transition to a new model with a cohesive team approach where direct care staff is fully engaging in all aspects of care. This “Culture of Care” creates a better therapeutic environment for patients and residents to live and improve safety for everyone. We’ve trained more than 700 staff on Non-Violent Crisis Intervention, an evidence-based, best practice for early intervention and de-escalation created by the Crisis Prevention Institute. That’s allowed us to focus our staffing on direct patient care and overall hospital safety. In the past few years, we’ve been able to maintain a good staff to patient/resident ratio by repurposing positions from administration and other supporting areas to areas that work directly with patients/residents on a daily basis.  Our interventions have reduced injuries by 44% since 2012.

Some other major changes to safety and security at the hospital in the last couple of years include new scheduling to increase the number of staff available during high patient activity times, safer procedures when patients have to leave the hospital and revamping the way we review incidents with patients and staff. The staff and leadership at the hospital have made tremendous strides to make it a better and safer place to work, live and reach recovery.