Hospitals Focus on Gun Threats, Employee Training for 2011
The recent spate of hospital security incidents highlight the need for increased vigilance by healthcare public safety personnel and non-security staff. Here’s how some security practitioners plan to protect their campuses this year.
Welcome to the first edition of Campus Safety’s “Hospital Security Update.” As most of you know, there’s a lot going on in the healthcare public safety arena right now. The recent spate of hospital security incidents this month and late last year, as well as the Joint Commission’s June Sentinel Event Alert all highlight the need for increased vigilance by healthcare public safety personnel and non-security staff.
In light of these developments, our first installment of ‘Hospital Security Update’ features comments from hospital security professionals and industry leaders about their plans to address these issues in 2011.
Training Includes Non-Security Personnel
Some executives, such as Catholic Healthcare West Corporate Director of Public Safety Stuart G. Fletcher, are focusing on active shooter response training.
“The components of the training include: what to do in a scenario; how not to go into a situation as a looky-loo and become part of a situation; how to take cover; and how to call the police so there isn’t a delay,” he tells Campus Safety magazine.
The program is currently running as a pilot at the St. Bernadine Medical Center and if all goes well, should be rolled out to Catholic Healthcare West’s other 40 hospitals later this year.
University of California, San Diego Health Systems calls its training an employee awareness program so that staff can start thinking about how they would respond to an incident. It also includes the police department, the sheriff’s department, the nursing units and managers, and involves various scenarios, such as a shooting.
“If you have a man come up and you hear popping, what are you going to do?” asks the institution’s Director of Security Services, Raymond Osborne. “A lot of employees have never been put in those situations, so they don’t know how to react. Our goal is to get employees thinking ‘What am I going to do?’ We have to make them aware the way things are going right now.”
Managing Multiple Technologies is Challenging
Osborne is also carefully reviewing his technology options. He is looking for a graphical user interface (GUI) to manage all of the security and security-related systems, such as video, access control, intrusion, dispatch, HR and IT.
“When you have a couple hundred cameras, you can’t watch them all,” he says. “How do you effectively secure an area when you only have two or four eyes looking at it?”
He has been looking at various video management systems (VMS) for quite some time now but is concerned about the changes going on with the manufacturers. The uncertainty makes him uneasy about making a commitment right away.
“I’ve determined we don’t need to make that decision right now, although we would love to have these new systems,” says Osborne. “We can still function without them until the industry settles down a bit.”
Campuses Share Information With Others
Managing information from internal sources, such as video surveillance systems and HR, is one challenge faced by many hospitals that can be addressed by technology. When the information comes from external sources, however, technology can only go so far. That’s when campus security executives and police officials must develop relationships with outside entities, and Bexar County Hospital District Police Chief A.J. Sandoval is taking this approach.
“Our community partnership initiative is where campus law enforcement is actively engaging other first responders, such as other police departments, fire departments, emergency medical departments and SWAT,” says Sandoval. “That way, in case there is a critical incident on our campus, we will have already made those necessary connections and those entities will be familiar with our campus, agency and buildings.”
Sandoval also meets with other hospitals in south Texas to share best practices and intelligence information. One of the best practices that came out of those meetings was a unified badging system.
IAHSS Aims to Strengthen Relationships
In addition to individual hospitals and organizations taking steps to improve public safety on campus, the International Association for Healthcare Security and Safety (IAHSS) is also hard at work. One initiative that is continuing from the prior year is IAHSS’ move to develop closer working relationships with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the Joint Commission, and National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) and other organizations that regulate or provide standards or guidelines on hospital security.
“Our goal is to reach out to them,” says IAHSS Executive Director Evelyn Meserve. “Not to tell them they are wrong, but to partner with them so there is better information flow for everyone.”
Other IAHSS initiatives include obtaining accurate metrics of the forensic patient population and creating guidelines on incorporating security into hospital renovations. Coverage of all of these initiatives will be included in upcoming issues of “Hospital Security Update,” so I encourage all of you to sign up.
Click here to sign up for “Hospital Security Update”
Check out the first installment of “Hospital Security Update”
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About the Author
Robin Hattersley, Editor-in-Chief
Robin has been covering the security and campus law enforcement industries since 1998 and is a specialist in school, university and hospital security, public safety and emergency management, as well as emerging technologies and systems integration. She joined CS in 2005 and has authored award-winning editorial on campus law enforcement and security funding, officer recruitment and retention, access control, IP video, network integration, event management, crime trends, the Clery Act, Title IX compliance, sexual assault, dating abuse, emergency communications, incident management software and more. Robin has been featured on national and local media outlets and was formerly associate editor for the trade publication Security Sales & Integration. She obtained her undergraduate degree in history from California State University, Long Beach.
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