I can't believe it!

Nurses Safety

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i can't believe that after 68 views i only received one response! come on, someone else must have something to say about their facility being locked or unlocked at night...please? i thought that no question was too stupid...:o

Our facility is an acute care hospital and is not really locked at any time. At 9PM some of the more secluded entry ways are locked but the main doors are open 24 hours a day.

sorry, wasn't really looking. Plus,.....I am embarrassed by our security. They are missing teeth, wear baseball caps, range in weight from 90 lbs to 300lbs. Our main entrance door is always open. We often encounter people on our wards who shouldn't be there. Our security is very lame. They are supposed to escort us to our cars when we get off shift. Sometimes they are there at shift change, sometimes not. They are a private company who work elsewhere as well, so sometimes they are at an alarm at a business. THe big guy sits on a bench and said he could watch us from where he was. Didn't want him to strain himself. One night walking to our cars, a drugee /drunk girl was by the entrance yakking on the pay phone. She started yelling nasty things to us saying we weren't worth the money we were asking for, wanting us to help her or something I don't know. The female "security" was so small and meek if I farted she would of spooked off. She went over to the drugee and I couldn't hear what she said but the drugee then started verbalizing at her. In my car- good night We don't even have surveillance cameras. It is a 500 bed hospital. But, that's vernon for you, or, as I call it, vernonville. Oh oh....I did a bad thing letting this secret out. Great. Terrorists are going to read all about our lame security and take over our hospital until their comrades are freed from jail. What have I done.!! They won't recognize me though. I'll keep my bag on my head. Whew, was scared for a minute.PS.(I keep my keys splayed):eek:

I had to go back and find the one you were talking about...sorry...

But check this one out! In the LTC where I work, NONE of the doors are locked at any time. The residents wear wristbands that make the security system alarm if a resident goes out. Nothing about whether we (or anyone else) comes in or not. Not at 12 midnight or at 12 noon...

Scary, huh? I think so...

Julie

The dorrs of our hospital are locked between 8 pm and 7 am. You have to go through a mechanical door that security guards open after finding out who you are.

Specializes in Med/Surg, ICU, Cardiac ICU.

Our front doors are locked at night but there are side entrances (somewhat secluded) that remain open. There used to be free access to the rest of the hospital through our emergency center but due to an incident, that was at least slowed down. Emergency always has police security there. The last couple of days (surprise, surprise) we have seen security around the entrances but prior to that, we mostly saw them prowling the parking lots in their security vehicle. (too bad one of my nurses still had her truck stolen from the parking lot :confused: )

Specializes in NICU, Infection Control.

After visiting hours, there is only one way IN other than ER--and that one has a security guard. The other exits do go OUT for emergency.

Visitors for ICUs can check in w/ the guard, and get a visitor sticker--no sticker, they're reported to security.

Our hospital is open all night, the security desk is at the entrance to the ER. The main door has the telephone operator's desk, she can see who comes in and out but does not stop anyone. On my peds floor, we have had people come up at all hours of the night. It is left to the (1) nurse on the floor to screen them. Too scary for me!

Our facility is a 500 bed acute care hospital who's doors are open until 8 pm. Then you must either register with security at the ED entrance or show your name tag. It's the only way to get in. Our hospital is in a high crime area. By the way our pictures are on our nametag.

Actually, I'm not sure what you are talking about. And, no question is stupid.

But, to answer what I thought was the question. I work in a hospital, rather by comparison. We have about 200 beds. Our E.R. is in the front of the hospital just off of the front lobby. So, our front doors are ALWAYS OPEN. We do usually have a security gaurd in the area to keep track of who is comming and going, but, this isn't alway the case. I guess I do feel queezy at times that the hospital is always open for anyone who wants to come in. And, people do tend to wander around the hospital. Our C.E.O. is really a nice guy, but, he doesn't really understand that there should be some rules regaurding visiting hours etc...

We'll have "friends" visiting patients at 2a.m. in the I.C.U.. And, although they may not cause too much trouble they are sometimes loud and disturb others. Because of our open hospital policy we aren/t at liberty to do anything about this.

Our IMC is down the hall from L/D and post partum. And, this area often times is mobbed with young children, families of women etc... I don't get it really, when I had my children only husbands (or signifigan others) were allowed in the area. But, we have loads of people running through.

So, if safety is the question we have virtually none in our hospital. I have a feeling something tragic will happen some day and it will be a "what in the world was this hospital so open for" type of situation.. Any way, I hope this answers your question:)

your input is greatly appreciated. i can see that we all aren't completely safe and probably will never be. thank you again

At our small town 85 bed hospital, the front doors and the side door are locked at 9 p.m. The doors at the admitting area are open and so are the ambulance doors at the back of the ER. Our hospital has no security whatsoever. If we run into problems we are suppose to call the EMS people, or the local police department. Visitors do not have to ID themselves to anyone at the front desk. It is kind of scary. We hope to have a new facility in a couple of years, so maybe security issues will be addressed. Let's hope so. :)

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