Page 21 - Campus Security & Life Safety, May/June 2022

“Healthcare workers are easy targets for patient and visitor frustration, rage and aggression. In fact, workplace violence is four times higher for hospital staff than any other profession—everything from verbal abuse to physical assault.”
decisively to the situation. Introducing artificial intelligence (AI) and deep learning into their systems is helping hospitals anticipate and safeguard against things like patient falls and other hazards.
Hospital security managers are drawing insights from their surveillance systems to help improve overall safety and security, as well as dispatch resources more effectively. For instance, in choosing to 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 intercede and diffuse the situation before it can escalate out of hand.
Hospital healthcare managers are finding that the technology helps them assess and mitigate risks, oversee adherence to patient care standards and plan staff allocation. In the event of a contagion surge, cameras and two-way audio system allow clinical staff to observe patients remotely, maintaining quality care while minimizing the risk of face-to-face interaction. With workforces shrinking and fewer candidates for hire, tele- sitting and patient watches have put undue strain on resources. Networked security solutions turn the tide by enabling reduced staff to safely monitor multiple patients simultaneously.
To help you appreciate the broader contribution an integrated security systems approach could make to your hospital operations, let’s look at a few innovative applications.
Reducing Workplace Violence
Hospitals are no strangers to workplace violence. Healthcare workers are easy targets for patient and visitor frustration, rage and aggression. In fact, workplace violence is four times higher for hospital staff than any other profession—everything from verbal abuse to physical assault. This has led to a rise in stress-related absences and burnout, which has been further compounded by the strain of coping with the COVID crisis.
To counteract the problem, many hospitals equip their surveillance cameras with intelligence audio analytics to instantly alert
By Paul Baratta
security staff to the sounds of aggression, breaking glass or gunfire. Identifying the type of threat helps security intercede more quickly and defuse or contain a potentially dangerous situation before it escalates.
Linking network cameras with access control systems adds another layer of protection. When security staff receives an alert that someone has entered a restricted area like an operating theater or pharmacy, they can visually verify whether that individual is authorized personnel or an intruder with nefarious intent. Adding a network audio system to the solution takes violence deterrence a step further by allowing security to broadcast a verbal warning over network loudspeakers to anyone engaging in unsafe behavior.
Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Hospital in Los Angeles deployed this integrated systems strategy to reduce the number of violent incidents in their medical center. Coupling their video cameras with intelligent audio detection in high-risk areas like the emergency room, lobby and cafeteria gave security unprecedented awareness of volatile situations like active shooter and verbal aggression. Instead of waiting for someone to report an incident, sound analytics instantly alert on certain acoustic variations such as volume, inflection and tone that indicate aggression or weapons fire.
“Now, instead of learning about the problem after it’s already escalated to violence, security gets notified as soon as aggressive sounds are detected,” said Mark Reed, director of the hospital’s support services. “It really reduces security’s response time.”
Since instituting this new technology, the hospital has seen the number of violent incidents drop by nearly 48 percent. With decreased escalation, worker compensation claims are down, as are lost time and injury rates among staff. Reed reports that their retention rate for nursing staff is on the rise as well.
Mitigating Lawsuits
To fend off accusations of misconduct, some hospitals are equipping their public safety officers, emergency responders and ambulance/transport staff with body worn
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