Staff can also be trained to look for signs of depression, which could lead to suicide – another motive for hospital gun violence. Additionally, there are best practices for managing inmate patients so they don’t escape and possibly get their hands on their escorting officer’s weapon.
Warren urges all hospitals to take a proactive rather than a reactive approach to security.
“You should get subject matter experts to look at any of the existing countermeasures or make recommendations for a security program,” he says. “Don’t wait until something occurs and then try to do something afterwards.”
Southern Hospitals Experience More Gun Incidents
The study found that 32% of perpetrators were current or estranged intimate relations, 25% were current or former patients and 5% were current or former employees. The individuals who were most often killed were the perpetrators (45%) followed by patients (13%). Only 3% of the victims were doctors and 5% were nurses. Most of the incidents (61%) had one victim, but one in 10 had three or more victims.
Where the hospital was located, such as in a city or neighborhood with a high crime rate, did not necessarily predispose a healthcare organization to more gun violence. This is reflected in the fact that ambient society violence accounted for only 9% of the incidents.
That being said, southern states proportionally experienced the most incidents (44% or .63 event per 1,000,000 population compared to the Northeast region which had 15%, the Midwest, which had 20% and the West, which had 21%).
Warren says the study brings up more questions than it answers, and according to a press release by the IAHSS, several issues were not addressed at all in the report.
“Although the report shed some light on the issues of violence in hospitals covering the 40 states considered in their research, the study stops short of addressing some of the critical issues facing hospital administrators on a daily basis: How to operate a facility with a well-trained, professional security team, which functions under a well-conceived security plan, and is prepared to handle any crisis situation that may arise.”
Read IAHSS’ response to the report.
Location of Hospital Shootings
- 59% inside the hospital
- 41% outside on hospital grounds
- 29% in the emergency department
- 23% in the parking lot
- 19% in patient rooms
Characteristics of ED Gun Attacks
- Perpetrators are usually younger than 40 years of age and less likely to commit suicide
- Perpetrators are more often in custody and unlikely to have a personal relationship with the victim
- 23% of the shootings involved a security officer’s gun taken by the perpetrator
- Fatality rate of innocent victims was 19% compared to 73% at other areas inside the hospital
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- 1 in 3 Hospitals Struggle With Radiological Disaster Preparedness
- IAHSS Responds to Hospital-Based Shootings Study
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