Security in Your ED

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What security is available in the ED of the hospital where you primarily work?

  • No Security Available

    Votes: 2 6.1%
  • Unarmed Security Officers

    Votes: 17 51.5%
  • Security Officers Armed with Batons

    Votes: 1 3.0%
  • Security Officers Armed with Tasers

    Votes: 3 9.1%
  • Armed Security Officers (Actually Carry a Gun)

    Votes: 5 15.2%
  • Off-duty Police Officers

    Votes: 3 9.1%
  • Hospital Police Officers (or University Police)

    Votes: 9 27.3%
  • No Metal Detectors at ED Entrances

    Votes: 22 66.7%
  • Metal Detectors at ED Entrances

    Votes: 4 12.1%
  • Metal Detectors at ALL Hospital Entrances

    Votes: 1 3.0%

  • Total voters
    33
  • Poll closed .

southerndoc

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The recent shooting at BWH in Boston highlights hospital violence. Although this didn't happen in an ED, there is a lot of violence that occurs in the ED -- shootings, stabbings, and physical assaults.

What level of security is offered in the ED of your primary hospital? You may select more than one option for what is offered.

Feel free to post comments about what you would like to see (armed security, armed police, metal detectors, etc.)

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The recent shooting at BWH in Boston highlights hospital violence. Although this didn't happen in an ED, there is a lot of violence that occurs in the ED -- shootings, stabbings, and physical assaults.

What level of security is offered in the ED of your primary hospital? You may select more than one option for what is offered.

Feel free to post comments about what you would like to see (armed security, armed police, metal detectors, etc.)

My main shop (large county-style) has a dedicated police force that's armed (guns and tazers and all the other toys)...and it seems like there's usually no less than 3 around the ED during the quietest times. No metal detector but they have detecting wands they use occasionally.

In a past career, I worked out of a large academic ED and they had a metal detector in the WR but it was staffed by security with batons and pepper spray only (no police). Some of these guys were massive, but if somebody came in with a gun the best they could do was call 911.

I feel safer in my current setup. The police are always there, very professional when you need them to help deescalate a situation, and they act as a great deterrent.

What's the setup like at your shop?
 
My previous spa always had metal detectors. I can't understand why this is not a requirement at my current ED.

Also my hospital employs one unarmed security officer, who I wouldn't trust to guard my lunch much less my life, to patrol the entire hospital. so if there is a security that in the ED, this guy may not get there for quite some time. There needs to be an assigned person in the ED.
 
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I liked the security setup at my last job. First tier response was the security officer with a handgun followed shortly by the squad of fairly heavily armed (M4s and the like) security folks. If the situation played out long enough, we'd get the full security forces response from the army post next door.

But that's the perk of working at a military hospital. I can recall a few unruly patients who got forcefully restrained by 4 guards with assault rifles slung on their backs.
 
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Yes, it was good fun in the military. The MPs loved it when I called them with a "runner." I don't know why anyone ever ran. Every exit from the base was guarded by an MP.

However, I'm now considering getting a concealed carry permit. The only issue is where to put the weapon while on shift. Don't want to wear a coat. It will be uncomfortable under scrubs. No locker (plus that makes it harder to get to.) Stashing it in a bag under the desk with a trigger lock leaves it unsecured while I'm in patient rooms. No great solution. Plus our hospital has a "no guns" policy, although the punishment hasn't been specified.
 
At the large teaching hospital I am at has guards with tasers and there are several posted in the ED. At the rural site I work at we have an unarmed security guard from 5pm-5am. I guess bad things don't happen during those other hours, except that one time a pt pulled scissors on the nurse and then quickly stabbed himself instead.
 
I'm at a county hospital with a permenant county sheriff presence, plus normally a few officers in the ED watching jail check patients, plus the hospital's unarmed security staff. Additionally all public entrances, but the ambulance entrance, have metal detectors. The ambulance entrance has a wand, but I've never actually seen it used before. We actually did have an incidence a few years ago where a trauma patient came in with a concealed weapon (non-permit holder), who immediately asked for a police officer so he could (thankfully) hand over his firearm safely.
 
Yes, it was good fun in the military. The MPs loved it when I called them with a "runner." I don't know why anyone ever ran. Every exit from the base was guarded by an MP.

However, I'm now considering getting a concealed carry permit. The only issue is where to put the weapon while on shift. Don't want to wear a coat. It will be uncomfortable under scrubs. No locker (plus that makes it harder to get to.) Stashing it in a bag under the desk with a trigger lock leaves it unsecured while I'm in patient rooms. No great solution. Plus our hospital has a "no guns" policy, although the punishment hasn't been specified.

I use to have a concealed carry permit and went through the training for that. If you don't have the weapon on your person and can use it within seconds it is useless. With the time you would go to retrieve the gun you should have ran away.

Additionally using a firearm in a crowded ER sounds terrifying.

Not to mention in some states it is illegal to conceal carry in a health care facility even with the permit.
 
I do NOT understand why people live and work in environments that require such security at places like hospitals and schools. Why not let the animals run the zoo and move to more pleasant locations?

Where I work, there is probably one police officer on duty in the entire town. Guns (hunting rifles and shotguns) are plentiful in the school parking lot (cause they all went hunting before school), and I am the security for the hospital.
 
Rural area in "Middle America." Unarmed, uniformed security. Average age probably about 90.
 
I know a guy who works in a rural ED. He keeps a small gun in his boot.
 
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