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Writer's pictureDave Corbin

Can Access Control Prevent Healthcare Violence?

Don't Hold The Door!


Don't hold the door? What?!?! We were brought up to ALWAYS hold the door for others. It's kind and thoughtful. Especially in healthcare. That's some of the feedback I got when my hospital's communications team and I launched the "Aware Because We Care" campaign when I was back at BWH.


It was an effort to educate staff about the potential dangers of holding a locked card access door open for someone else to enter. This is affectionately referred to as piggybacking.


You see, the thousands you spend to "secure" a door with a card reader and an electronic lock is no match for polite staff. So we launched an awareness campaign featuring provocative videos designed to illustrate the risks of piggybacking. Then we taught them what to do if someone tries to follow them through a door: Stop, Challenge, Assist.


It was a first of its kind campaign for healthcare and it's still available for free here.


Locked doors are more than just a key part of your layered physical security measures. They are a key strategy to prevent violence.


Just having locked doors is not enough, though. It's about having them in the right locations with the right training and functions.


3 Ways to Leverage Access Control to Prevent Healthcare Violence


Just putting a card reader and electronic lock (or even a mechanical lock) on a door is not enough to prevent violence.


Here's three ways to use access control to help prevent violence:


1- Train Staff

If staff don't understand why a door is locked, how can you expect them to keep it locked?


Propped doors often result from staff not understanding the risks of an open door. They might see it as an inconvenience. Holding a locked door open for a stranger to enter seems polite.


However, locked doors can help prevent potential aggressors from reaching staff, patients, and others. Educate staff on how locked doors help them stay safe from violence and empower them to prevent piggybacking.



2- Location, Location, Location

Ensure that access controlled doors are in the right locations...consistently. Examples:


  • Keep staff only and treatment areas separated from public/waiting areas.


  • Use delayed egress hardware to deter abuse of vulnerable exterior doors.


  • Lock inpatient units to prevent unauthorized persons from entering.


How do locked doors at these locations help prevent violence? By buying time. Time for staff to prepare, time for security/police to respond, time for staff to screen visitors, time to de-escalate from a safe location.




3- Safe Rooms

Safe rooms are locations where staff can shelter-in-place behind a locked door. These rooms can help staff stay safe from everything from an armed assailant to physically out of control patient.


It's important that all staff have access to these rooms, that they have solid locking doors, no windows, a deadbolt, and a phone or panic alarm inside. Solid cinderblock or brick walls are a plus but not always available.


Rooms should be marked consistently so that staff know where to go in an emergency.


There you have it! Three ways access control can contribute to your overall violence prevention strategy.

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