Abstract
BackgroundJumping from heights is a readily available and lethal method of suicide. This study examined the effectiveness of a minimal structural intervention in preventing suicide jumps at a Swiss general teaching hospital. Following a series of suicide jumps out of the hospital’s windows, a metal guard rail was installed at each window of the high-rise building.ResultsIn the 114 months prior to the installation of the metal guard rail, 10 suicides by jumping out of the hospital’s windows occurred among 119,269 inpatients. This figure was significantly reduced to 2 fatal incidents among 104,435 inpatients treated during the 78 months immediately following the installation of the rails at the hospital’s windows (χ2 = 4.34, df = 1, p = .037).ConclusionsEven a minimal structural intervention might prevent suicide jumps in a general hospital. Further work is needed to examine the effectiveness of minimal structural interventions in preventing suicide jumps.
Highlights
Jumping from heights is a readily available and lethal method of suicide
We used χ2-statistics, controlling for (a) the number of cases treated in the hospital, and (b) the number of inpatient days before and after the intervention in order to evaluate the difference in the number of suicide jumps prior to and following the installation of a metal guard rail at every hospital window
Between January 1995 and December 2010, 12 fatal incidents involving falls from windows occurred at the hospital. 10 patients committed suicide by jumping out of a window before the metal guard rails were installed in June 2004 (114 months or 9.5 years; 119,269 inpatient cases, 1,029,962 inpatient days)
Summary
Jumping from heights is a readily available and lethal method of suicide. This study examined the effectiveness of a minimal structural intervention in preventing suicide jumps at a Swiss general teaching hospital. Findings show that the majority of survivors of suicide jumps do not go on to commit suicide [5,6] and that the restriction of access to means of suicide may prevent suicides [7]. This suggests that it is worthwhile making preventive efforts at jumping hot spots in order to reduce overall suicide rates.
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