Journal of Healthcare Protection Management

When a hospital suffers a serious loss or act of violence, the blame frequently centers on the facility's Security Department, but, as the author, a longtime security consultant, points out, there's plenty of blame to go around--including Administration at all levels, and employees, both clinical and non clinical. In this article, he presents the many reasons why security can fail and what should be done to prevent such failure.

Providing great customer service is extremely critical in the healthcare setting, especially when it comes to HCAHBPS (Hospital Consumer Assessment of Health care Providers and Systems) scores, the author says. While there are several service training programs within healthcare, they often require six to eight minutes of interaction with patients or guests. This works well for clinical staff, he says, but when it comes to non-clinical staff, including security officers, many times they only have fifteen or thirty seconds to create positive patient or guest experience...

Outside requests for data on current or former employees are handled in different ways by healthcare organizations and present considerable liability risks if a corporate policy for handling such risks is not in place. In this article, the authors present a strategy for responsible handling of sensitive information.

In this article, the authors maintain that if properly used by trained security officers Taiser CEWs result in significant reductions in injuries and reduction in costs by type of injury. HSS's security officers have carried Taser CEW's in hospitals for more than 10 years in 40 facilities across the country producing no negative CMS finding or excessive use of force claims, they report.

This article is a condensed version of a document/position paper written by the authors for ODS Security Solutions on "Defensive Weapons and Equipment in the Healthcare Environment." For the complete paper, which also includes a review of alternative weapons and equipment and other equipment carried by security officers go to: https://ods-security.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Defensive-Weapons _Digital-2.pdf?utm_source=Defensive+Weapons&utm_campaign=spring+sentinel&utm_medium=email.

This article presents examples of different resources that can be implemented to help manage a patient in crisis. It discusses challenges and solutions in regard to the ED boarding of behavioral health patients and reviews various restraint types and definitions (violent, non-violent, forensic). It stresses the importance of teamwork between security police and clinicians.

In this article, the author analyzes the possible reasons for the reported drop in hospital violence in the 2016IAHSS Crime Survey compared to previous surveys. He also reviews the one statistic that has remained constant in all the recent crime surveys and recommends an approach in violence prevention programs that may prove successful in reducing workplace violence and staff injuries.

In this article some of the concepts that undergird the Do It Yourself Bio or the "DIY Bio" movement will be explored; the challenges of citizen science will be considered; some of the public policy concerns linked to Do it Yourself Bio will be sketched; and some actionable recommendations made, especially for healthcare institutions.

Drug diversion by healthcare personnel poses substantial and growing risks to patients, staff, healthcare institutions and the community, the author reports. It is essential that clinical, pharmacy, and security personnel work together on diversion-related issues to reduce those risks, she says. In this article she spells out the critical roles of security personnel in the investigation of suspected diversion and the response to confirmed diversion.

In this article, the author reviews the four elements of disaster preparation that healthcare facilities should have in place to respond effectively in an emergency situation.

The author, an experienced investigator and trainer, makes the case in this article for the use of body cameras by healthcare security and non-security personnel to confirm that they acted within policy, law, and regulatory guidelines during an incident. The many benefits of such cameras in enhancing training of healthcare personnel are also described.

The availability of an Early Intervention Program for at-risk children in New Jersey's city with the highest crime rate and poverty level has been enhanced several fold by a volunteer escort service provided by security officers of hospitals which serve the community. In this article, the lead author and contributors explain in detail how an Early Intervention Program works and the key contribution to its success by hospital security escorts.

In every community human trafficking has become more apparent to healthcare providers. Children who are missing are at risk for ex- ploitation and harm. In response to the identification of missing youths in the emergency room setting, a guideline has been developed as a tool for healthcare providers to identify and appropriately respond to a child who is reported missing and at risk for harm. In this article, the author provides guidance for security and other ER personnel on how to identify such children.

In states which permit the use of medical cannabis, a number of problems have arisen for hospitals when they admit patients which have such permission, the author reports. In this article he presents the many issues that medical cannabis will create and stresses that now is the time to prepare the strategy to address these issues.

Narcan, the nasal-spray form of naloxone, has been approved by the FDA as an easy-to-use version of a drug for saving lives of people who have overdosed on opioids--heroin or prescription painkillers. Communities across the US have been equipping first responders and police with the spray. Now, as the increase in overdose deaths has spread to hospitals, those facilities will have to decide whether their police/security officers should be equipped with. naloxone and trained in its use. In this article, the authors relate their health system's decision, how it was reached, and how it has been implemented...

The use of K9 units within healthcare facilities will continue to increase as the violence within healthcare increases. K9s are a wise investment and are cost-effective. K9 units deter and prevent crime and violence at facilities. The typical K9 will be utilized for eight to ten years. The research demonstrates that facilities that have deployed K9 units have seen a reduction in crime and violence. A well trained K9 can not only patrol the exterior of a healthcare facility but also the patient care and service areas...

In order to assist staff in recognizing patients prone to violence and guide their clinical decision-making, this study summarizes mental health inpatient unit incidents over a one-year period. Results describe demographic and clinical information for patients, and evaluate risk assessment tools currently used to predict risk. A retrospective analysis included data on patients involved in incidents and frequency matched controls. There were a total of 44 incidents, caused by 38 unique patients. A constructed model to estimate patient characteristics and risk of violent incidents included involuntary admittance (OR 2...

This article is based on a proposal to management by the police chief of a hospital for equipping police officers with patrol rifles. According to the IHSSF 2014 research report on Weapons Use Among Hospital Security Personnel, handguns are available in 52% of hospitals, but there were no reports of the availability of patrol rifles. Recognizing that such a proposal is highly controversial, the author maintains that in view of the nature of today's security threats, the use of such weapons should be given serious consideration...

The need for equipping healthcare security officers with tourniquets may seem far-fetched, but it is not, according to the author, because such officers in their role of first responders may well face situations where they have to administer such first aid to save lives and limbs. In this article, he describes how training in tourniquet use by officers can be given.

This paper intends to simplify challenging concepts through role-play demonstrations and serve as a foundation for understanding the basis of securing healthcare data. Disparity exists between the rising need for security of electronic healthcare information and the number of healthcare leaders who understand the concepts behind ensuring privacy and accuracy of such data. Healthcare managers with a basic understanding of data encryption and how it safeguards health information are vital to the success of Electronic Health Records...