Journal of healthcare protection management : publication of the International Association for Hospital Security最新文献

"Zero incidents" is the goal every security planner should work to achieve. The tools to build a "zero incidents" environment involve: * Acknowledging that violence is preventable. * Providing optimum customer service to every visitor, patient, family member. They are all VIP'S. * A strong emphasis on documentation. * Honoring and responding to staff intuition. *A proactive threat response program-policy. * Teaching all staff the verbal/non-verbal warning signs of violence. * Proactively contacting individuals of concern, making direct contact. * Having a strong domestic violence response and support plan. Active Shooter and Code Silver planning should also involve the crucial component of violence prevention and "zero incidents" philosophy. By merging these two, security planners will achieve the best of all possible outcomes. They will teach staff how to run, hide and fight and at the same time build a culture and workforce that provides both maximum customer support and staff awareness.

Many hospitals use color codes to denote internal (i.e. patient respiratory distress), or external (i.e. natural disasters) emergencies, via public announcement systems. Variations in the codes used by different hospitals can create confusion among providers who may practice in more than one hospital. This study sought to understand emergency code practices in the Delaware Valley region, assess patient and provider knowledge of codes at one hospital in that region, and patient and provider preferences for emergency code standardization and format. Anonymous electronic surveys on procedural knowledge and perspectives of emergency codes were disseminated to hospital staff and patients located at a large regional hospital. Phone interviews were conducted with hospital administration at the regional hospital and other hospitals within a 50-mile radius. The author's research indicates that standardization would be accepted by patients and providers and its lack is considered a barrier to providing high quality care.

The feedback from the staff that participated in the Full Scale Drill was overwhelmingly positive. Working and becoming acquainted with members from other supporting departments is critical to a successful evacuation. They enjoyed being a part of the drill and expressed that having ownership of an evacuation plan is vital in the care of our babies. This turned out to be a remarkable team building exercise on many levels. The planning team achieved its overall goal of creating a sense of control over a potentially chaotic environment and now believes that they could execute an evacuation for any reason with maximum protection for their patients. In a similar way various groups in and outside of the Medical Center have an understanding of the complexities of this patient group and what would be needed to effectively support their needs in a disaster. The NICU/CCN Evacuation Committee looks back over almost a year of hard work with tremendous satisfaction and renewed confidence.

In the next few years, the healthcare industry will experience rapid change, the author says. In this article, he describes how this changing healthcare landscape will provide many opportunities for the healthcare security leader willing to think about and provide security on a different scale by focusing on six key areas--mission and culture, goal alignment, value and metrics, relationships, technology, and professionalism.

Looking behind the statistics on increases in healthcare violence incidents, the author finds that these incidents directly impact a small percentage of employees. However he sees an opportunity for administrators and security professionals to use this heightened awareness to collaborate on comprehensive plans to manage workplace violence, not only to reduce the direct impact of workplace violence incidents, but also to mitigate the indirect impacts such as employee morale degradation, fear of workplace violence, and costs of workplace violence. In this article he provides the elements of an effective workplace violence management plan.