Open House Hospitals

[SSPine]

I need some imput. Does anyone else work at a hospital that has a pretty much open door visitor policy? Our visitor hours are from 1400 till 2000 after that we lock all the outside doors except the E.R.. Put here is the problem even with clearly stated hours people still come in and want to go visit. I know that people have loved ones in here and would like to see them. I lost my grandmother christmas day at this very hosptial. When a visitor arrives after hours we call the respective floors and they always let them up. there is no way to secure all the floors with such a open flow of traffic. The floors never call us (security) to inform us that the visitors are leaving. It get frustrating trying to keep everyone safe and everyone happy.

[Andy Taylor]

A hospital is a hard place to secure. I know when I was in for three days for surgery, my wife never left my bedside, visiting hours or not. In most cases having loved ones around is good for the patient. However this does make a hospital a soft target. It will be very difficult, if not impossible, to get visiting hours to be an enforcible rule. I have never worked hospital security, but I have spent my share of time in them both as patient, and visitor. Good luck.

[JB diligence]

I see this as an issue that calls for alot of disecretion, the hospital I worked at was open door in most areas aside from those that were only operational during daytime 9-5ish hours. Some patients also went outside the main doors for a smoke at all hours as well.

One option would be a magnet lock door set up, they can be set for certain areas to be locked at certain times, add proxy or swipe cards with various levels of permissions for individual card holders and you can better secure the building.

JB

[UCRSO]

Feel your pain. 8 years as a Hospital SO 6 + at a children’s hospital which is easier to secure than an Adult hospital. Just be very proactive and keep your eyes open.

[War113]

The rules at my hospital was...1 visitor per bed.The rest must stay in the waiting room.

[Michael Ledgerwood]

I have never worked hospital security but understand where you are coming from. In my opinion, denying or limiting visitation is a huge liability. Every hospital I have ever been to will let IMMEDIATE (key word) family visit any time providing it does not interfere with care. Most hospitals are public buildings and therefore cannot prohibit anyone from entering. Denying a family member visitation will in most cases lead to a lawsuit. There is of course exceptions to every rule. For example; if the paitient is in custody, or in the ICU, or undergoing emergency life saving procedures. Also if the family is disorderly, intoxicated, threatning, etc. then they might be turned away and that is fine. My wife just gave birth to our daughter on June 30th, and the hospital we were at had the following procedures for visitors. First, visiting hours were from 7am - 930pm. at 9pm ALL doors with the exception of the ER were locked. After 9pm if you wanted to visit you had to sign in with security and obtain a visitor pass. Since there was only one way in and one way out it was not hard to enforce and they were required to sign out as well. When you signed in you had to know the paitients name and room number or you were denied. The ICU, ER, and OR were all restricted acess and required a doctors permission to enter. The Birthing floor did not have set hours and would let visitors in 24/7 however the nurses know all the paitients and they were quick to meet family members, if they didn't recognize you they would ask you who you were visiting etc. Any areas that were restricted were protected with a keypad "cipher" lock and required a combo to enter so you couldn't wander around. I think this was more than adequeate and I felt very safe during our 3 day stay at the hospital. Hospitials are not prisons and are not designed to keep people out, They are designed to provide life saving medical treatment period. If a hospital denied me visitation to my family for no good reason Id be on the phone to my attorney in a heartbeat. Not only that but I would be wondering what they were doing to my loved one. Use discretion when dealing with family after hours, with very few exceptions you do not have a legal right to deny them regardless of hour. If it becomes a problem make them sign in and out like our hosptial does.

[GCMC Security]

I was going to post on this subject when I got more time as this is a subject that is very much one of my pet peeves. But I just wanted to address one thing before I forgot.

Most hospitals are public buildings and therefore cannot prohibit anyone from entering.

In recent years the number of publicly (or as we refer to as government owned) hospitals has been surpassed by the number of non-profit and privately owned hospital. So now a days that means MOST hospitals are on private property and are private buildings. I can deny you access if you are not seeking emergency medical treatment and I can also have you trespassed off the property.

Public property is a terrible term because some people think that a parking lot is public property (ie Walmart/kmart/etc), guess what it isn't. It's owned by that building owner.

[N. A. Corbier]

Even more importantly, you can be removed or denied access to public property. Its still "private property," its just owned by the government. I think the only thing they can't remove you from are streets and open spaces. In government owned "public" buildings, they can kick you out for violating a rule or a law.

[UtahProtectionForce]

I was going to post on this subject when I got more time as this is a subject that is very much one of my pet peeves. But I just wanted to address one thing before I forgot.



In recent years the number of publicly (or as we refer to as government owned) hospitals has been surpassed by the number of non-profit and privately owned hospital. So now a days that means MOST hospitals are on private property and are private buildings. I can deny you access if you are not seeking emergency medical treatment and I can also have you trespassed off the property.

Public property is a terrible term because some people think that a parking lot is public property (ie Walmart/kmart/etc), guess what it isn't. It's owned by that building owner.

False its actually owned by the land/share holder. i have seen parking companies buy and annex parking lots from buildings... the lots belong to the parking companies and not the buildings near them, since they bought the rights to the land, that the lot is on..

[davis002]

False its actually owned by the land/share holder. i have seen parking companies buy and annex parking lots from buildings... the lots belong to the parking companies and not the buildings near them, since they bought the rights to the land, that the lot is on..

What GCMC said was not false. You are both right. Some parking lots are owned by the building owner, some are owned by the land owner. I'm sure we can all agree that in the vast majority of cases, a parking lot is private property.

[SSPine]

We are a Lifespan Hospital so we are private. The main rub with it all is that Our C.E.O. gets complaints from people thinking the hospital should be open 24 hours a day to visitors. Its my feeling that the person is here to rest and heal not party. Poeple get so upset with us ( securtiy) when we keep them waiting as we try to contact the floor. I try to explain to them that we are trying to keep all the patients and staff safe.

[craig333]

Not a hospital but a medical building that is open 14 hours a day. While technically a private building its open to the public. With all the entrances and exits, theres just no practical way to make it secure (sure it could be done, but not in a way that wouldn't piss off the doctors, patients and visitors and be very costly . I just have to live with the fact its an insecure building.

[sgtnewby]

We are a Lifespan Hospital so we are private. The main rub with it all is that Our C.E.O. gets complaints from people thinking the hospital should be open 24 hours a day to visitors. Its my feeling that the person is here to rest and heal not party. Poeple get so upset with us ( securtiy) when we keep them waiting as we try to contact the floor. I try to explain to them that we are trying to keep all the patients and staff safe.

We are in the same boat. The hospital (exterior) doors are open from 0530 to 2030. The ER building doors stay open until 2230. After 2230, people can only enter through the ER and the have to stop at the security desk to get visitor passes, even though visiting hours are technically over at 2030. Some of the units are very strict about the visiting hours and say "no visitors" every time you call. Some always say yes, and some say yes to some and no to others. It's very inconsistant, and a lot of people that are told no get really upset, and then we end up having a whole new problem... Also, our facility covers 6 city blocks of downtown Minneapolis, there are 23 entrances, and typically only 5 or 6 of us at a time to secure it, 3 of which can not leave the ER.

[Michael Ledgerwood]

I was going to post on this subject when I got more time as this is a subject that is very much one of my pet peeves. But I just wanted to address one thing before I forgot.



In recent years the number of publicly (or as we refer to as government owned) hospitals has been surpassed by the number of non-profit and privately owned hospital. So now a days that means MOST hospitals are on private property and are private buildings. I can deny you access if you are not seeking emergency medical treatment and I can also have you trespassed off the property.

Public property is a terrible term because some people think that a parking lot is public property (ie Walmart/kmart/etc), guess what it isn't. It's owned by that building owner.

Allow me to clarify my statement. I will only speak for around here. Whether private or public, Hospitals are considered "public" facilities. Can you be kicked off property? well the answer is yes and no. Yes you can be kicked off if you are not their for a legit reason (i.e. skateboarding in the parking lot would get you the boot). However, If you are their legitimately to seek help you cannot be turned away no matter what. This is why every hospitial has "paitient rights" posted on the walls. Now as I said in my previous post if you are an immediate family member you cannot be denied visitation. That comes straight from several nurses at the hospital we were at. That does not mean they wont restrict you to certain areas (i.e. not allowed in ICU unless you have doctor escort). It has been proven that visitation will speed up the recovery. Their is also the legal aspect that a family member might need to act on a paitients behalf (power of attorney, etc.) in order to get care rendered. As I mentioned in my previous post, discretion is the key. Several hospitals have been sued successfully for this exact thing.

GCMC - you say "public property" is a terrible term. Parking lots such as wal-mart are indeed private property. However in the State of Washington the law goes on a term called reasonable suspicion. If a reasonable person is walking thru a wal-mart parking lot are they trespassing? No they are not. Trespassing is the intent to remain unlawfully on private property.
I just had to testify in court on this.

The point i am trying to get across is if you kick someone out of a hospital you better be able to justify. Kicking a father out who is visiting his injured daughter just because its "after hours" will get you in very hot water. Tell you the truth I have never seen a hospital eager to kick anyone out for that reason. Keep in mind your job as security is to protect the assets of your client, not to deprive family from seeing their loved ones.

[GCMC Security]

Michael,

Agreed, I'm not going to kick someone out for just wanting to visit someone. Our hospital has visiting hours yet they are not enforced nor does anyone care about them (except in ICU/NICU/PICU because they are secured floors). If they are behaving themselves and not causing a problem to staff OR the patient I don't have a problem with it.

Where my problem comes is those that don't know how to act. Being loud, causing a disturbance, or otherwise then we have an issue. I tend to be pretty lenient to an extent. Most time I get a call for a disturbance I explain to the individuals that the patient is our priority and that if they can't respect that they will have to leave. Patients need the rest. I tell them that if I am called again, ALL parties will leave for the night and any instigators will be trespassed. Most the time I don't have a problem after that.

Only one time have a really had to put my foot down on the first call (not including calls involving violence). That was a mother and father (divorced) of a 12 year old girl in our Women and Children's Hospital. They got into a huge verbal argument right in front of the child. When I arrived to investigate they continued going at it with a lot of obscene language. They were both booted immediately. BUT being the softheart that I am, I arranged a schedule that they both could see the child but without the other being there. If they were both found on property at the same time and caused another problem they would be trespassed. (before any brings up any legal issues, I consulted the Hospital Lawyers beforehand to check on that!)

Like I said we will not deny anyone seeking medical attention. When someone is trespassed they are told they cannot return to Sacred Heart property unless seeking treatment.