One of the biggest concerns of every hospital is patient safety. A big part of patient safety has to do with medical issues, like medication and diagnostic errors. However, hospitals are also targets for opportunists looking to prey on vulnerable people or stress ridden visitors on edge waiting for news of their loved one’s status. Going the extra mile to keep all those under a hospital’s roof safe in their vulnerable time is as simple as employing the right security services.
Vulnerable People
People are vulnerable in hospitals. The comatose patient as well as the grieving family members huddled around the bed, won’t notice their wallets getting picked by a random visitor to an unmonitored hospital. With such attention being placed on providing care, comfort and cure to the patient, in a hospital, criminal activity usually occurs unimpeded.
High Stress Environment
Aside from the shady opportunist sneaking in and out of hospital rooms, people in hospitals are usually very nervous and scared, easily instigated into fights. A hospital is a crowded public building, brimming with people on edge. Whether your child is about to be born or your loved one just passed away, everyone in a hospital is pretty strung out.
How Security Services Can Help
According to The New York Times, crimes in hospitals are increasing. Between 2012 and 2014, there was a 40% rise in crimes in hospitals. Because of this, several major health institutions have invested in security services for their hospitals. For these reasons, reliable security is a vital ingredient to a successful hospital. Doctors and staff members can’t be concerned with security issues. How can you expect a doctor to be their best if they are distracted by a fight in the next room? How can a patient be carted to their surgery through mobs of people? How will someone find their way to their loved one without a security guard to ask directions? The technical and medical staff of a hospital does not have the time or training to handle security issues.
The ideal hospital security system starts as soon as someone walks through the main door and is greeted by a security officer or concierge service. This initial security measure is one of the most important lines of observation and visitor screening an institution like a hospital can employ. The seemingly innocuous interaction of greeting and directing visitors where to go, is a crucial screening process that can prevent any apparent trouble from even entering the hospital.
In addition to an entrance security or concierge service, security and surveillance camera installation is another prudent investment in hospital security. Having a control room equipped with several CCTV monitors will allow security to survey every area of the hospital with one glance.
Another benefit a professional security service brings to a hospital, is that it could work toward lowering insurance prices for that hospital. Properties without security systems are three times more likely than properties with security systems to be robbed. As a result, insurance companies may be more open to lowering monthly premiums of a property that has a security system.
A hospital simply cannot thrive without an effective security service in place. Schedule a consultation with us – your trusted South Florida security company since 1985.
