When it comes to creating and maintaining safe and secure hospital environments, the general public may first think of well-publicized cybersecurity breaches at healthcare facilities across the U.S.
However, at a more basic level, outside of (and more adjacent to) hospital IT teams, hospital facilities and security teams, confront a host of challenges on a daily basis and work towards achieving many interrelated goals.
Focus of Healthcare Facilities Directors
Healthcare facilities directors focus on the operational efficiency of resources. For example, when a new building is under construction, hospital facilities professionals collaborate with their counterparts in security to make sure that the new building is as secure as possible.
- In a hospital, who is responsible for dealing with a break in a water pipe?
- What about when doors are unlocked but should be locked?
- Who takes ownership of two-way radios, allowing for both instant communication and one-to-many communications?
These are all the domain of hospital facilities teams.
Focus of Hospital Security Directors
Healthcare security directors and their staff, on the other hand, spend a lot more time putting out fires — including locating lost patients. Hospital security teams take the lead on preventative maintenance when it comes to video surveillance, analytics, AI, intrusion alerts, and incident management.
- What can possibly go wrong?
- How can you respond as quickly as possible?
- Why is that door open when it shouldn’t be?
- Who needs to pay attention to the dozens of monitors, consoles, and dispatch points?
- In a post-COVID-19 world, who needs to be at every entrance checking temperatures?
These concerns all rest with hospital security teams.
In addition to healthcare facilities staff and security staff, a hospital’s emergency management director, also known as a hospital’s emergency preparedness coordinator, plans and implements emergency management protocols to prioritize the safety of patients, staff, and visitors.
What challenges do your hospital facilities and security teams face? Share your thoughts in the section for comments below.
And if you’d like to learn how wireless communication improves physical security for hospitals, download our eBook, “Creating Safe and Secure Hospital Environments: How Wireless Communication Improves Physical Security for Hospitals (For Hospital Facilities and Security Professionals).”
