Page 28 - Security Today, May/June 2020

HOSPITAL SECURITY
Balancing Safety,
Security and Privacy
How network video and audio are helping hospitals elevate patient care and workplace safety
BHy Paul Baratta
ospital safety and security is a series of if-then scenarios. If we can prevent patients from falling out of bed, then we can avoid serious, costly in- juries. If we can prevent workplace violence, then we can reduce staff stress, burnout and resigna-
tions. If we can continuously monitor critical patients remote- ly, then we can spot subtle changes and avert health crises. To achieve those desired outcome hospitals are embedding sophis- ticated surveillance technology – a tightly integrated solution of network video, audio and analytics – into day-to-day operations.
Most hospitals initially invested in video cameras for security purposes. As they’ve become more proficient with the technology, they’ve begun exploring other ways to benefit from their invest- ment. With the advent of sophisticated video and audio analytics, hospitals are discovering they can use their network cameras to augment patient care and raise workplace safety and security to a whole new level. Because video analytics can process and analyze images with surgical precision, they can provide hospital staff with actionable information in real time.
Audio analytics are adding another valuable layer to situational awareness. With alerts from cameras enhanced with intelligent eyes and ears, hospital staff are reacting more quickly and decisively to potential threats like verbal aggression, breaking glass, gunshots and more.
Today we’re finding healthcare managers using the technol- ogy to help them assess and mitigate risks, oversee adherence to patient care standards and plan staff allocation. In the event of a pandemic surge, cameras will allow clinical staff remotely ob- serve patients and manage their care while minimizing the risk of face-to-face interaction.
Hospital security managers are drawing insights from their sur- veillance systems to help improve overall safety and security as well as allocate resources more effectively. For instance, in choosing to
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deploy intelligent cameras at lower-risk entrances, they’re able to free up manpower for more critical locations like behavioral wards and emergency rooms. They’re adding audio analytics to provide early warning of potentially explosive events so that they can respond pro- actively and diffuse the situation before it can escalate out of hand.
To help you appreciate the broader contribution surveillance cameras could make to your hospital operations, let’s look at a few innovative applications.
PREVENTING INJURY
One leading issue for hospitals is mitigating patient falls. Accord- ing to research accumulated by the Joint Commission Center for Transforming Healthcare (JCCTH), U.S. hospitals report an aver- age of six patient falls a month. With over 70,000 falls occurring in hospitals across the country annually, the financial impact to the healthcare industry is significant. Patient falls can cost an average hospital more than $1.6 million annually – an expense that’s not reimbursable through private insurance, Medicare or Medicaid. If cases of severe injuries, where patient stays could increase by six days or more, the amount could be considerably higher.
To mitigate these events, some hospitals are using network cam- eras as virtual patient watchers. With analytics, they’re capable of de- tecting and alerting staff to patient activity that might lead to a fall. And if a fall does occur, the cameras can immediately trigger a coded alarm for a rapid response team. This is critical because statistic show that early detection ensures the best outcome for the patient.
So how does this work? The video analytic can be programmed to automatically alert when the patient crosses a specific bound- ary, such as the edge of the bed. Should this happen, a message is immediately sent to a nurse’s station, a remote patient monitoring control center, or a care team member’s mobile phone along with real-time video of the situation.
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