I am trying to find out how security works in other ED. We worked in a locked ED- someone has to let patients/visitors in the door. Only 2 are really used at night- the EMS door and the locked door from the waiting room to the main ED. All employees have to badge in to get in. We have 2 security officers. 1 for the waiting room, and one in the main ED. Every person that walks in the ED waiting room comes directly to the triage window. The triage nurse stops whatever she is doing, speaks to the person at the window, and either signs them in to see a Dr., sends them immediately to the back, directs them to a patients room in the back (asks them who they want to see, is there anyone else in the room with the patient, sorry- you can't take the cell phone, drink, outside food to the room, opens the locked door), directs them to the security guard in the corner so they can get in the main hospital, ect.
All of the patient/visitor control takes a lot of time away from the patient you are attempting to triage.
So does anyone have any ideas? Does anyone have a security officer posted at the main door to take care of visitors, etc.? Does anyone else have armed security officers in the main ED? What are their roles? Do you feel safe?
We are attempting to make some changes to make things work smoothly- and have the SECURITY officers actually secure the place.
Oh man, I didn't realize how lucky we are! My director cares a lot for our safety. We not only are locked down, but have a hospital securtiy officer in the waiting room and an armed police officer every night in the main ED. I wish you would all go to your directors and discuss better security. A maintenance man is not going to cut it. The cost of security in the ED is cheaper than the cost of a lawsuit if something happens to an employee. Good luck. And thank you for all your responses!
I get to go to court at the end of the month as the result of a midnight incident with an angry couple. Luckily the nurse I was working with reacted quick and the local cop was close. I got out of it with some curses and a little shove, unfortunately for the idiot in question he is being charged with making terroristic threats, disorderly conduct and simple assault. He is a state emplyee and probably will lose his job.
I work in a very small rural hospital. We do not have security at any time. As a matter of fact, we can't even lock the ER door (because it's broken and management has not decided it's important enough to fix yet). If we have a problem, we call the police and hope they're nearby.
Not the best situation, that's for sure.
I can relate to this. The ER I work in is isolated from the floor and when you are back there by yourself, it can get pretty creepy. Luckily I have not had any problems, but anything can happen.
Where I work, we have armed security 24/7. One is always in the waiting area, one is outside and 2 or 3 in the ER.
Only authorized staff with proximity cards are able to access various area on the ER. Until a pt. is called through, or in to see a family member only access they have is in the waiting area. All triage is behind windows, and all of the ER is locked.
I do feel quite safe, probably more so than when I had been working on the wards. It's not until 8:30pm that the main enterance doors are locked and they open at 7:30am.
Housekeeping or maintainence double as security and we lock the door in the ED after 1100 PM and buzz patients and staff in as they come. Sounds bad/unsafe until you understand that many people still leave their homes and car doors unlocked or the car running as they run into the store around here. Makes it hard to want to leave a place like this.
Hospital secuurity around here is pretty laughable......My Dh used to be an ER guard...his duties were to try and keep order and escort the nurses to the parking lots at shift change. He was armed with a to way radio and flashlight. He's a big guy and that helped. He hated it when he was called on to "assist" the ER docs by restraining patients so IVs couild be started etc.....only thing worse was when the had a DOA and he was rrequired to sit with the body while the nurses cleaned the deceased up. Dh is afraid of blood and needles,,,,not to mention squeamish about body fluids. The last straw? Witnessing a lady deliver twins at the back door of ER and having to hose the blood off the sidewalk.
I work in a small rural hospital with only 4 beds, and at night, there is only one nurse (me) alone in there unless or until the doc comes in from his lounge. The hospital is locked around 9 pm, and no one can get in unless I open the door, but there are times earlier in the evening before the doors are locked that the ER is unsecure.
The other night, I was leading a mom and baby to the triage room where the baby scales were, and some woman just walked into the triage room like she belonged there. I asked her to step out for a moment and she got huffy and said she would go elsewhwere, like that would make me beg her to come back....and the idea that someone could come in when I am not looking really got to me. There is no security ever at the hospital, and the only time there is a man there is when the one night shift supervisor is working. It does get a bit unnerving at times.
Our ER is locked, all pts have to be buzzed in. Family members are usually allowed in, unless it is locked down for a critical situation. After 8 pm, the ER door is the only entrance to the hospital, and all visitors and pts for ER have to check in there, first. For that purpose we have a security guard (a toy cop) at the entrance, he calls the unit to see if it's ok to have family visit. On our unit, only parents of the baby are allowed to visit after 8pm. At times it takes 30 minutes to get through the line to security. We also have a locked door between the ER waiting room and the rest of the house. None of the security guards are armed, the PD has to be called.
The local knife and gun clubs are frequently active on weekends, so it is good to have some security. We are not a trauma center, but sometimes it must seem that way to the staff.
I have never worked ED, but did work in a small, independant, isolated inpt hospice unit. Only two nurses on duty at night, no security.
There we were in the little unit, with only a regular little metal front-door door knob. You know, the kind where you press in the little button to lock it. No window to see who was at the door, and the freeway traffic roaring by so loudly that you couldn hear who was at the door, either.
We had a whole lot of morphine in that unit. I used to imagine that thugs would invade, shoot us, and take all the MS. This is a real possibility in down-town Phoenix.
A couple of times, we had drunks come to the door, or people who had been in car accidents nearby wanting to use the phone. I think it was only pure luck that we weren't held up at gun-point for the morphine, Ativan, Valium, Dilaudid, Xanax, etc that we always had on-hand.
TexNurse
17 Posts
Oh man, I didn't realize how lucky we are! My director cares a lot for our safety. We not only are locked down, but have a hospital securtiy officer in the waiting room and an armed police officer every night in the main ED. I wish you would all go to your directors and discuss better security. A maintenance man is not going to cut it. The cost of security in the ED is cheaper than the cost of a lawsuit if something happens to an employee. Good luck. And thank you for all your responses!