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."
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