Security in the ED - page 2

1. 
   May 14, '03

   Originally posted by NightMoonRN
   Our nightly {soon to retire} maintenance man is our security "officer". He is armed with a motorola radio.

   LOL! :chuckle
2. 
   May 14, '03

   Originally posted by RainbowSkye
   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.
3. 
   May 16, '03

   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.
   
   Tracey
4. 
   May 17, '03

   Jay Levan--
   
   You have the title of HERO in my book :kiss
   
   Care to work in California?
   
   :angel2:
5. 
   May 17, '03

   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.
6. 
   May 17, '03

   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.
   
   
   Llauura
7. 
   May 22, '03

   Ahhhh dont get me started on this subject.
8. 
   May 24, '03

   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.
9. 
   May 24, '03

   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.
10. 
    May 24, '03

    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.
11. 
    May 24, '03

    Our ER has a security desk directly next to the sliding doors that open to the public doors. All doors leading out of the hospital can be opened to the outside, but once you're out the only way in is thru those doors by the security.
    The doors into the ER are locked. The nurses working there know a code to punch to get in, everyone else has to wait for the security to open the door from their desk. Nurses coming on shift or back from break have to wait by the doors going into the hospital from ER for security to punch them in.
    I have never seen less than 3 of them at a time on duty. I don't know if they have guns, know they carry clubs.
12. 
    Sep 12, '03

    My hospital may as well have no security at all. The few "guards" that we have are contracted employees that are instructed not to touch anyone. They spend their day telling me and others where not to park. Mind you, I work in a inner city hospital. I too have taken knives and weapons from patients. One time I took a loaded 357 Magnum from a patient. Another time I was chased by a "gentleman" with a knive". Due to police cut backs in the area, we are lucky if we get the police to arrive within an hour. Our pleas to higher management fall on deaf ears. Someone is going to have to be killed before anything is done. All of this in the name of public perception.
13. 
    Sep 12, '03

    Our ED is locked at night and on weekends with a combination lock on each of the three entrances. Triage is protected by a perspex screen. The waiting room is under video surveillance so we don't have to go to triage with out looking first.
    
    Our security staff are drawn from the orderlies and maintenance staff. We have a minimum two nurses in attendance at all times.
    
    All this was instituted from a perceived threat, it hasn't been tested yet. The community is getting larger and crime is increasing, so I guess it won't be all that long before it is.

    Last edit by sandgroper on Sep 12, '03

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