Securing Hospital Safety
Hospitals are meant to be places for healing and recovery, but that’s not always the case. Hospitals have been the scenes of shootings, robberies, and kidnappings, and in the last few years, incidents of violence have increased. The source of these problems is beyond the scope of a hospital to resolve, but there are security measures to minimize risk.
Minimize risk of violence
Violence toward staff and patients is one of the biggest — and most difficult-to-manage — security issues in any healthcare facility. A May 2022 survey of healthcare workers revealed that 92% of participants have either experienced or witnessed violence from a patient or caregiver in the past month. Edward Barksdale, MD, Surgeon-in-Chief at UH Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital in Ohio also recently shared, “We are clearly in what I would call a pandemic of gun violence.”
Many hospitals have tried installing metal detectors to minimize weapon violence, but these are unreliable and often trigger numerous false alarms. Advanced weapons screening options, such as Evolv, are preferable.
General security measures are the first and easiest steps to take. Hospital security guards, weapons screening, and security cameras are all good starting points. For technological security measures, the more recent they are, the better. A blurry security camera is essentially useless, especially when facial recognition software is available.
When violence occurs internally, particularly from patients, it’s vital to have staff on hand who are trained to handle the situation. A potentially violent patient is a security risk that can’t be easily handled by traditional security measures. Special training is necessary.
Minimize risk of theft
Hospitals are full of controlled substances, expensive equipment, sensitive information, and often unprotected personal items. While general security measures can help reduce theft, there are additional measures that should be taken as well.
Real-time location systems (RTLS) are most commonly used to communicate the location and status of patients, but they can be used for equipment monitoring as well. Knowing where high-risk items are supposed to be — and where they actually are — can help teams reduce the risk of theft and increase the probability of locating missing items.
Technology can do a lot to prevent theft, but it can’t do everything. Every hospital should have a dedicated loss prevention team to ensure that everything is where it is meant to be, when it is meant to be there.
Minimize risk of infant kidnapping
According to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, 329 infants were abducted in the U.S. from 1964 to 2020 with direct ties to healthcare: 140 were taken directly from healthcare facilities. Often, the perpetrator impersonates a healthcare professional as their means of entry and awaits the opportunity to abduct the child. Today, there are new methods to thwart these crimes.
The STANLEY Healthcare Hugs system is a unique ID and RTLS solution for newborns. With these IDs, and the companion Kisses system for mothers, the risk of newborns’ being kidnapped is greatly reduced. The devices can be used to:
Match a newborn with their mother
Physically lock doors, if necessary
Alert staff if an infant is somewhere they shouldn’t be.
As for the healthcare professional impersonation issue, ID policies and visitor management work together to mitigate this risk. Visitor management allows the hospital to limit who enters the facility and where they can go.
With these systems in place, the risk of abduction is greatly reduced, if not eliminated.
Hospital security is critical. Inadequate or outdated security measures pose a risk to patients, visitors, and staff. Whether it’s violence, theft, or kidnapping, the best hospital security is proactive security management that prevents security risks before they become security breaches. To learn more about integrated security and life safety solutions for your healthcare facility, contact sgranillo@TRLSystems.com.