By Jeff Wardon, Jr., Assistant Editor

Violence in the workplace has become a serious concern in the healthcare field. This became evident for Geisinger in 2022 following two deaths on its properties caused by increasingly aggressive behavior, compounded by pandemic-linked stressors, according to the American Medical Association (AMA) 

Geisinger implemented safety measures in response to these concerns that includes staff training in de-escalation, active-shooter response drills and equipping 6,000 employees with duress notification badges, according to AMA. 

Duress notification badges, personal panic devices and video analytics can be incorporated into advanced access control solutions to identify and/or mitigate a threat before it escalates, Doug Coppola, senior director of healthcare solutions, North America at LenelS2, previously told Healthcare Facilities Today.

Related: Cleveland Clinic Implements Flagging System for Violence Prevention: Study

“Personal panic devices utilizing Real Time Location Services can be initiated by an individual if they perceive a threat, notifying security of who needs help and where to send it,” says Coppola. “Additionally, integrated video with voice aggression analytics can help identify an incident before it escalates, alerting security to send a de-escalation team to help mitigate the threat.” 

However, access controls on their own can’t stop every threat. Nine of Geisinger’s emergency departments had their metal detectors intercept 24,000 weapons in 2022, according to AMA. Similarly, in 2023, the Cleveland Clinic confiscated 30,000 weapons brought in by patients and visitors. The organization attributed their success with confiscations to their increased security efforts. 

In addition, Geisinger established a patient misconduct policy and formed workplace-violence committees to monitor and address incidents. The health system also put in place measurable goals such as reducing aggressive patient behavior and assault injuries. Geisinger has additionally set a goal of decreasing violent incidents by 3 percent across their system, according to AMA. 

Jeff Wardon, Jr., is the assistant editor for the facilities market.