New 40-bed psych unit to open on the Aurora medical campus

On the fifth floor of a new tower at University of Colorado Hospital, the rooms have no furniture that moves and no handles or faucets from which to hang a ligature. 

The new 40-bed psychiatric unit was designed with the most up-to-date safety measures that exist, some that were invented mid-construction. 

A nurse standing in the hallway can see the entire room, even feet in the shower. Natural light filters in through large windows secured by a sophisticated locking system. And the door opens on both the right and left sides so that if a patient is using their body as a barricade, hospital staff can adjust the hinges and avoid a face-to-face confrontation when they push open the door. 

When UCHealth’s new psychiatric unit accepts its first patients this…