Hospital patients are at their most vulnerable during their stays. But they are not the only ones at risk. Visitors and staff must also be protected 24/7/365. The following hospital safety best practices can help.
Consider threats from patients
Patients are an often-forgotten risk, but they can present a safety hazard to nurses, doctors and other staff. In fact, 80% of serious violent incidents reported in healthcare settings were in patient interactions. Providers and caregivers who have the patient’s best interest at heart can be verbally and physically harassed by patients. Learn more about steps to take to avoid this issue in this post from BOS Medical.
Outside threats
There are several areas of vulnerability, but the emergency room is particularly difficult to secure. Emotions run high with life-threatening injuries and illnesses moving rapidly through this department. When you’re trying to save lives, staff security protocols can go right out the window.
In each of these cases, healthcare providers need to be able to count on security staff to manage safety while they focus on patient care.
Property theft
Hospital property and drugs in particular are at risk. Theft can occur from patients, visitors and employees. Theft of property and equipment can have a major impact on your hospital’s bottom line.
What can you do to mitigate these security risks?
Improve staff training
Teach employees what to watch for in high-risk situations. Identifying a threat early and escalating as needed can prevent a small problem from turning into an unmanageable one.
Create design obstacles
Make it difficult for people to get into areas where they don’t belong or access property or equipment they have no official need for.
Monitor access
Know who is in your hospital and why. Patients are monitored with bracelets, and staff movement is often controlled with badges, but even visitors can be tracked with wristbands.
Make use of alarms
Loud alarms on doors, cabinets or equipment with limited access can be a deterrent to theft or unauthorized access as well as allowing your security team to respond rapidly.
Hire specialized security
Hospital security is a 24/7 job – one that’s truly active around the clock. Working the night shift guarding a loading dock for a manufacturer is much different than working the same shift in a hospital where patients, doctors and employees come and go at all hours.
Need additional advice on keeping your hospital secure?
Trust the experts at BOS Security. We help keep hospitals secure 24/7/365. If you would like more information on hospital security, or other strategies to keep your patients, visitors and staff safe and secure, contact us at 404-793-6965.
