The case of Lynne Spalding, whose body was found in a San Francisco hospital stairwell after she went missing from her hospital bed in late 2013, illustrates the importance of communication in hospital security, according to an article on the MDNews website. 

Physicians had ordered 24/7 surveillance of the disoriented Spalding, but nursing staff didn’t follow through and there was no established protocol for the handling of emergencies of this kind with the Sheriff’s Department, the article said.

Once patients are admitted, hospitals have the responsibility to keep them safe, the article said. But hospitals aren’t prisons, and hospital security staff aren’t law enforcement officers. A physician or nurse who is specially trained to use restraints must deliver the orders.

Security cameras and tracking bracelets are another way of keeping patients safe. Security staff can set the bracelets to actively or passively trigger alarms when patients approach a predetermined boundary around the ward or facility. 

Read the article.