After recent incidents, healthcare facilities are questioning whether their security plans are enough — or too much, according to an article on the Fierce Healthcare website.
A November study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, said that increased violence prevention efforts by hospitals will save lives — and money. And "even if the intervention cost a little more than it saved in dollars and cents to the healthcare system, there would still be a net benefit in terms of the violence it prevented," Jonathan Purtle, Ph.D., one of the study authors, said.
Some feel that adding extra security measures such as metal detectors or even a hospital-specific police force would send the wrong message to patients.
Despite a recent violent incident, the Exodus Mental Health Urgent Care Center in California does not provide its guards with weapons and doesn't plan to, according to the L.A. Daily News. It also doesn't use metal detectors because the agency wants the facility to feel "warm and homelike."
Technological Readiness: The Missing Construction Milestone
From Cooling Towers to Cost Savings: Hospital Seizes Power-Saving Opportunity
Community Health Center of Buffalo Reports Data Breach
CRAB Alert: The EVS Role in Preventing Infection
Why Hospital Waiting Rooms Aren't Going Away