What tools do hospitals have to keep patients, families and team members safe?
When someone enters a healthcare facility, there’s usually a lot on their mind. They could be heading to a cancer screening that may cause anxiety or an important surgery requiring an overnight stay. Others might have experienced a stroke, heart attack or an accident and need emergency care.
One thing that shouldn’t be a concern is their physical security. Patients, families and team members should feel safe in a medical facility, day or night. But episodes of violence, such as the recent active shooter at a midtown Atlanta hospital, have shown that society is tragically far from that ideal scenario. What can we do to make healthcare facilities and the places our loved ones frequent safer?
Your physical security at a hospital starts when you park your car. Do guards, cameras, or other sensors police the parking lot? Your sense of safety may also depend on gender or physical ability. For example, women and individuals with disabilities might feel unsafe in parking lots, especially when using them at night.
One hospital in Florida installed intercom stations in their parking garages, so anyone who needs assistance or feels unsafe can request a golf cart ride from their car to the hospital entrance. If that intercom operator is busy, the call goes to another operator in a different facility, so there’s no delay in the response. At specific Wellstar locations, golf cart service is also offered, increasing accessibility and making our patients feel safer.
The next step in security takes place when entering the facility. Cloud-based video surveillance allows hospitals to monitor their campuses without the massive space and local computing requirements of older systems. Some newer systems can read car license plates to check for vehicles carrying a BOLO (“be on the lookout”) alert, where artificial intelligence interacts with the police department system. These systems can monitor visitors to automate access and even differentiate between a properly holstered weapon and one held by an unauthorized person.
Hospitals can also integrate this video surveillance with access control for team members to different facilities. Instead of a team member needing a card to enter a building and a computer login to access their station, it’s now possible for both accesses to be controlled through a single credential, similar to face ID on your phone.
Recently, Wellstar has partnered with CLEAR, the secure identity company, to provide a seamless and secure patient experience, saving time and costs, and improving security. CLEAR eliminates the need for patients to re-enter their data at each interaction with us.
Technology can also help prevent violent acts that are premeditated. 92% of individuals who decide to perpetrate violence will make their grievances known to others before an attack, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Hospitals are looking at ways AI can monitor social media to flag these signs better, warning security and the authorities.
As team members and patients, we can also identify and report these signs. While technology is helping hospitals become smarter about safety, everyone can play a role in security by remembering the adage “see something, say something,” according to Rick Kollmar, VP and Chief Security Officer at Wellstar.
“Whether you’re an individual at home or in a social area outside of our healthcare facilities and you see something unusual that you think is a security concern, report it to your local law enforcement agencies,” Rick said.
Here at Catalyst Voice, you can begin playing that role by completing our new survey on physical security in healthcare facilities. We want to hear about how safe you feel when you seek medical care, if you ever witnessed violence or aggression at a hospital, or any other security-related concerns and suggestions you’d like to share.
Keeping Hospitals Safe
Rick Kollmar, VP and Chief Security Officer at Wellstar, tells us what security measures exist today and what is coming in the future to improve this aspect of healthcare.
Survey Results: Physical Safety in Hospitals
Thank you for taking our physical safety survey to ensure safer hospitals for all. Your feedback will be sent to team leaders across Wellstar.
Your Voice
Do you feel safe when you park at your hospital, especially at night? Share with us what could help you in those situations.
