Imagine looking around your waiting room and seeing scores of patients are waiting indefinitely in an uncomfortable environment, only to be asked highly personal questions. It’s a tense situation that can be easily exacerbated by perceived prejudices or hostile attitudes by hospital staff, or by the patient’s own mental instability or use of drugs or alcohol.
Not surprisingly, ninety two percent of physical acts of violence or verbal threats are generated by the patients themselves, according to hospital and healthcare security expert Tony York. In fact, studies show that between one-third and one-half of all workers within emergency departments have faced acts of violence within the past year.
Violence perpetuated by patients has far-reaching impacts, from your hospital’s ability to provide consistent, high-quality patient care to retaining and ensuring the safety of doctors, nurses and staff.
We want to help. We’re passionate about improving the quality of the security industry as a whole: how it trains, the equipment it carries and how it’s perceived. With Tony’s input, we assembled this free eBook, A Practical Guide to Non-Lethal Hospital Security, which includes 10 tips and a framework to help you design your optimal security solution. Among the tips:
- Conduct a risk assessment that extends well beyond your campus borders
- Redesign your facilities to safeguard against high-risk populations
- Adopt an open mind: continually seek new and better options for protecting your facilities and, once you have narrowed down your options, request hands-on evaluations of response alternatives
We also outlined the risks and benefits associated with unarmed, armed and intermediate responses to help you determine which response is right for you, and introduce an intermediate, layered defense strategy that capitalizes on Guardian 8’s Enhanced Non-Lethal (ENL) defense device, the Pro V2.
Finally, we provide strategies to help you counter potential opposition to purchasing more effective security solutions, either on financial or legislative grounds.
We recognize hospitals can achieve the crucial mission of providing quality patient care only when your environment ensures patient, staff and visitor safety. Developing a comprehensive, intelligent security plan for your facility is crucial to creating this environment. We hope this eBook helps get you there.
