Crisis Communication Comes of Age

Feb 1, 2008 12:00 PM, By Jim Crumbley

Workplace shootings, gang violence, infant kidnappings, inmate escapes, hostage situations, bomb threats, tornados, hurricanes, terrorism — hospital security directors face a plethora of daily risk. But tight budgets, limits on staffing levels, an emphasis on customer service and an open “healing environment” all create challenges for security professionals to combat these risks. With many options for risk mitigation in health care, crisis communication is of utmost importance.

“Crisis communication” should be defined as the “timely and comprehensive communication of a threat to appropriate individuals,” part of risk mitigation.

Recent incidents — in and out of the health care industry — showcase the need for timely and comprehensive communication in threatening environments.

These incidents point to the need for a quick and system-wide notification of the threat. But how that can be done is still a question.

Health care facilities have traditionally relied upon overhead announcements for alerting staff of threats. There are codes for tornados, fires, bomb threats and security assistance. In the past, it was not uncommon for a hospital to announce “paging Dr. Strongarm” whenever security was needed to handle a violent situation. The challenge with overhead-paging is the “immunity factor.” Since so many announcements occur during a shift, staff members can become immune to the verbiage and barely pay attention to what is being said.

Many hospitals use telephone operators for the code announcements. These staff members, while hardworking and valued, are not specifically trained to handle crisis situations. Mistakes in understanding the incident and nervousness in making the call have generated incorrect announcements.

As technology advances became more prevalent, hospitals began to alter their crisis communication methodologies. The use of e-mails and pagers has begun to supplant overhead announcements. While a step in the right direction, pagers and e-mail have limitations. Pager numbers have to be dialed individually and a return call made for an update. E-mails are sent and received almost immediately, but the message is often not opened for several hours.

Some may recall that one controversy related to the Virginia Tech shooting was the method of crisis communication. Because the alert was sent via e-mail, few students had an opportunity to view the message before the gunman had made his way to a classroom building and begun shooting students and faculty.

With more recent advances in technology, health care systems now have the ability to communicate to a large number of PCs, cell phones and pagers and can even link with overhead paging systems and radios. These advances are what made Northside Hospital in Atlanta consider making the switch from traditional communication methods to a more advanced process. The Northside health care delivery system includes three hospitals located in three different counties with a total of 606 licensed beds.

While there are a number of systems on the market, Northside chose the Lynx System from Micro Technologies, Richardson, Texas. The company engineers and manufactures a line of technology-based security products and covert camera systems. John McDonald, director of safety and security for Northside, chose the Lynx system due to its flexibility and expandability. The Northside information technology (IT) department liked the system because it resides on the network, giving them more control and protection of sensitive information such as cell phone numbers and e-mail addresses.

In the beginning, McDonald was simply looking for a cost-effective means of expanding his duress alarm system and came to the Risk Response Team of Atlanta for options. The Risk Team reviewed the needs of the organization and recommended solutions to McDonald and the hospital's IT department. As a result, Northside was not only able to upgrade its duress system but, through the Lynx software located on a dedicated server, was able to place duress stations on hundreds of PCs, recall hundreds of staff and, through computer pop-up and text messages, alert the system on a variety of emergencies. It was all accomplished at a cost roughly equal to the installation of a much smaller traditional hardwired system.

The Lynx mass notification system provides Northside with many benefits, including a number of options for initiating their crisis communication plan. They include:

• The establishment of “Hot Keys” on computer keyboards or PC desktops, which send a duress message to security.

• The ability to install or e-mail a temporary icon to any employee facing a temporary risk of violence.

• Traditionally styled duress buttons can be connected to a desktop PC through the USB port and discreetly placed under a desk drawer or countertop.

• Wireless buttons can be mounted to walls or in treatment rooms with a receiver connected via USB to a desktop PC. The wireless receiver connects to a network connection.

• A tornado warning, bomb threat, shooting or other emergency can be communicated via cell phone or pager text message at the click of an icon. Pop-up messages with response details can also be sent to PCs on the network. Response policies can be attached to the pop-up message.

• Hospital staff can be alerted to the presence of an “office creeper” or other suspicious activity with a pop-up message that includes the description of the perpetrator and contact information for security.

• Previously installed duress stations can be integrated with the Lynx system for consistency of response.

• With a simple interface, overhead announcements can be made through a computer-synthesized voice program or pre-recorded WAV file. Announcement wording can be predetermined and easily adjusted as needed.

• Other alarms, such as moisture sensors in a server room and medical equipment, can be interfaced with the system and appropriate staff members alerted to the event.

• In case of a disaster recall, physicians, nursing staff, administration and other personnel can quickly be contacted via text or call to their landline. By hitting “reply” on the text message, the program can document receipt.

• Upgrades allow security officers to be notified via radio, in addition to text messages.

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© 2008 Penton Media Inc.

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