New comprehensive contactless detection systems developed by Massachusetts-based Evolv screen for weapons and contraband as foot traffic passes through the doors of Long Island Jewish Medical Center in New Hyde Park, South Shore University Hospital in Bay Shore and Lenox Health Greenwich Village in Manhattan.
WHY IT MATTERS
By implementing next-generation screening technology, security teams at New Hyde Park, New York-based Northwell Health can immediately detect instruments of violence without gathering the slow lines typically associated with security screenings.
With Evolv Express touchless systems, there’s no need to unpack a bag, take off a coat or even stop. The system screens 4,000 people per hour, according to the company’s website.
Across North America and the United Kingdom, the technology has stopped more than 30,000 guns from entering countries in the first six months of the year, according to an Aug. 11 announcement from Evolv.
One incident reportedly prevented a loaded gun from entering a hospital, and the hospital engaged law enforcement.
Sensors and artificial intelligence spot weapons and ignore personal items like cell phones and keys as visitors walk at a natural pace. The system shows where the potential threat is to a person or a bag, in real time.
The system provides built-in integration with video and mass notification systems to extend alerts to all security teams and provides an analytics dashboard to generate data and enable teams to review incident responses.
“Northwell is known for its world-class healthcare, and it is our mission to keep patients safe with world-class security measures,” Scott Strauss, vice president of security and support systems for Norwell Health, said in a statement. prepared.
Artificial intelligence and sensor control systems will also be installed at other Northwell Health facilities as part of a larger initiative across the health system to maintain the safety of employees, patients and visitors.
According to its website, Northwell Health also formed a Center to Prevent Gun Violence in 2020 to design a public health approach to end the gun violence epidemic and received a federal grant to launch a pilot of examining patients.
THE BIGGEST TREND
Northwell Health has hosted hundreds of trainings over the past few years that include active shooter drills, seminars on conflict de-escalation techniques and courses on how to respond to bleeding emergencies so that staff are better prepared if one occurs. incident at the hospital, according to the announcement.
This because violence is about four times more prevalent in health care than in any other industry.
In January, a man walked into the emergency room of Jacobi Hospital in the Bronx, New York shot another patient in the arm, according to NY1.com.
In June, an attacker entered St. Francis Hospital in Tulsa, Oklahoma and killed four people, then himself, according to the Associated Press.
Several nurses recently spoke with St. Louis Post-Dispatch ca lingering safety concerns after a patient stabbed a nurse and a doctor in SSM Health DePaul Hospital’s emergency department on July 11.
Nurses specifically cited the lack of a security checkpoint upon entering the ER and that they are often responsible for confiscating weapons found on patients.
“When you’re working at DePaul, you’re literally walking down the hall looking over your shoulder,” one nurse told the Dispatch.
Healthcare workers have had their say concerns about the US Department of Homeland Security’s Run-Hide-Fight training advised by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.
Taking effect in January, The Joint Commission now requires hospitals to conduct a workplace analysis each year and address safety and security risks based on the findings.
“The high incidence of workplace violence prompted the creation of new accreditation requirements,” the commission said in its report on Workplace violence prevention standards.
ON THE RECORD
“The installation of this new detection system is just the latest addition to a wide range of security protocols the health system has in place to protect those in our hospitals, minimize the risk of violence and maintain an environment of job security for our team members. This technology just adds another layer of security – and improves confidence for anyone entering these healing spaces,” said Michael Dowling, Northwell’s president and CEO, in a prepared statement.
Andrea Fox is senior editor of Healthcare IT News.
Email: [email protected]
Healthcare IT News is a publication of HIMSS.