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Report: Violent crimes on rise at hospitals

YARMOUTH, Maine—Crimes at hospitals are on the rise—in particular violent crimes such as murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault—but health care security pros have a tool to identify their most vulnerable areas.

The International Association of Healthcare Security and Safety Foundation, the philanthropic arm of IAHSS, recently issued its annual Healthcare Crime Survey. The 2014 report is different from those in previous years in the questions asked and in the presentation of its findings. The change was made to provide hospitals with “trendable data” they can use to their benefit, IAHSSF President Steve Nibbelink told Security Director News.

“We made it factual, black and white, crimes per bed,” Nibbelink explained. Surveys were conducted at hospitals in the United States and Canada.

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Here are the U.S. results: 

  • Violent crime (murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault) rate per 100 beds was 2.5 cases in 2013, up from two in 2012.
  • Assault rate per 100 beds, 11.1 in 2013, up from 10.7 in 2012.
  • Disorderly conduct rate per 100 beds, 39.2 in 2013, up from 28 in 2012.
  • Burglary rate per 100 beds, 0.5 in 2013, equal to 2012 rate.
  • Theft rate per 100 beds, 7.8 in 2013, up from 7.7 in 2012.
  • Motor vehicle theft rate per 100 beds, 0.24 in 2013, equal to 2012 rate.
  • Vandalism rate per 100 beds, 2.3 in 2013, up from 2.2 in 2012.

The results from Canada:

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  • Violent crime (murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault) rate per 100 beds, 0.1 cases for both 2012 and 2013.
  • Assault rate per 100 beds, 0.6 in 2013, up from 0.5 in 2012.
  • Disorderly conduct rate per 100 beds, 24.7 in 2013, down from 41.4 in 2012.
  • Burglary rate per 100 beds, 0.9 in 2013, up from 0.8 in 2012.
  • Theft rate per 100 beds, 3.4 in 2013, down from 7.3 in 2012.
  • Motor vehicle theft rate per 100 beds in 2013, zero, down from 0.01 in 2012.
  • Vandalism rate per 100 beds, 1.9 in 2013, down from 1.7 in 2012.

Nibbelink noted that it should be taken into account that hospitals are doing a better job of reporting crimes, which is a contributing factor to the increases.

“Health care facilities are tough places to work, and there’s lots of bad behavior in society today,” Nibbelink said. “Just when you think we’ve done all the proactive things we can do, the bad guys always find something new to do.”

Hospitals need to pay attention to those trends to deploy the appropriate resources to protect their patients and staff.

The IAHSSF data will be built on year after year, he said, so that security directors can extrapolate from the data to help shape budget requests for the next year, he said. Those requests might include continued education and training programs for hospital staff or more technology.

Security technology continues to be a force multiplier for hospital security, he said.

“It helps extend the reach of the security teams’ eyes and ears. But we don’t want technology to give the wrong image. It’s there to help us, but security always starts with people, policies, procedures and training of the security team,” Nibbelink said, along with getting other departments to buy in.

In addition to his IAHSSF role, Nibbelink is the global director for healthcare security and RTLS programs and the healthcare alliances program for Schneider Electric.

IAHSS members in leadership roles at U.S. and Canadian hospitals were invited to participate in the survey about health care crime trends for 2012 and 2013. Of the responses, 242 were deemed useable. The respondents represent 209,818,780 square feet of health care space, including on-campus clinics, research space and medical office buildings. They represent more than 56,000 hospital beds and have an average daily census of about 85,000 people.

TAGS: INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF HEALTHCARE SECURITY AND SAFETY FOUNDATIONSTEVE NIBBELINK,IAHSSHOSPITAL SECURITYPHYSICAL SECURITYSECURITY DIRECTOR NEWS
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