Protecting the most innocent

Jun 1, 2001 12:00 PM

Disguised as a staff member, an abductor enters the mother's room and announces that it's time for the baby's bath. She lifts the baby out of the bassinet, and in a moment she's out of the room, down the stairs, and out the door.

It's a nightmare that every hospital wants to avoid and that many are using technology to do something about.

Creating a comfortable and secure environment for new mothers and their families is an essential part of the strategic plan for the Family Life Center at Jackson County Schneck Memorial Hospital, Seymour, Ind. The solution is an advanced, integrated security system encompassing both access control, and electronic monitoring of newborns and the children in the pediatric wing.

Opened in August 2000, the Family Life Center is an integrated obstetrical and pediatric care unit encompassing the entire fifth floor of the hospital. It has facilities for labor, delivery and postpartum recovery, as well as a nursery and 11 rooms for pediatric patients.

The hospital has a tradition of innovation in healthcare. It has implemented a hospital-wide computer-based patient care system that includes bedside charting. It also recently installed an advanced light-speed computed tomography (CT) scanner, thus cutting time required for critical scans for such things as head trauma.

When planning began for the new Family Life Center, it was a given that everything had to be state-of-the-art, including security. As Tammy Dye, director of Women's and Children's Services, notes, “We're always trying to keep a step ahead.”

The hospital's overall security is through a facility-wide access control system. Access to the fifth floor is by controlled elevator only; passengers must enter a valid code or swipe a proximity card to request floor five.

Public access to the fifth floor is by elevator only. All other exits are locked 24 hours a day, with access restricted to authorized personnel. Once visitors arrive, they must check in at the nurse station before being able to proceed to any of the birthing suites or recovery rooms. Visitors receive a limited access/limited time proximity card that allows them to pass through the locked doorways that lead to the obstetrical or pediatric wings.

The perimeter stairwell doors are locked on a 24/7 basis with delayed-egress magnetic locks that alarm both locally and at the hospital's central monitoring station.

A DEDICATED ANTI-ABDUCTION SYSTEM

At the center of the hospital's anti-abduction security is the Hugs Infant Protection System, manufactured by Instantel Inc., Kanata, Ontario, Canada. Hugs is an electronic protection system specifically designed to deter the abduction of newborn infants and children from hospitals.

The system consists of tiny radio transmitter tags worn by infants, low frequency door-monitoring devices, radio frequency receivers, and a dedicated control PC that monitors the activity of all tags and system devices. The receivers, door monitors and other devices are connected to the PC over a network using the LonWorks protocol from Echelon Corp., Sunnyvale, Calif.

Once activated, the tag emits a regular signal that is picked up by the receivers and relayed to the control PC. Tags are supervised at all times by the PC from the moment they are enrolled in the system. As long as the infant remains within the Family Life Center, he or she may be moved freely. As soon as a tag comes near an exit, an alarm is generated at the PC showing the specific tag and its exact location. The system also automatically generates an alarm if someone attempts to remove the tag. The tag can interface with magnetic door locks and other devices.

The Hugs system at Schneck Memorial has been fully integrated into the hospital's overall security system. Central Sound and Electronics Inc., Louisville, Ky., is responsible for overall system integration, working together with Hugs system installer Innovative Medical Systems Inc. (IMS), Grand Rapids, Mich.

The door monitors used in the Hugs system include two programmable relays that can be used to drive a range of external devices. At Schneck Memorial, they have been interfaced with the elevator control panel to prevent a potential abductor from using the elevators. In an alarm condition, the elevator doors are held open at the fifth floor until the alarm is cleared at the PC, located at the obstetric nurses' desk. In addition, audio and visual alarms have been installed throughout the Family Life Center.

The interior doors of the Center are also connected to the Hugs system. These exits are equipped with magnetic locks and proximity readers or keypads for authorized ingress (egress is free). In an alarm condition, the mag locks are activated to prevent egress, through a relay input from the Hugs system.

A CENTRAL PIECE, BUT NOT THE WHOLE

For Tammy Dye, electronic security is only a part of protecting the infants in her care. Equally important is the education of staff throughout the hospital and especially parents. “Our first line of defense is educating parents. We always teach them how to identify staff members authorized to handle infants. All Family Life Center staff carry color-coded photo ID badges for easy identification,” she says.

The staff of the hospital has been trained to use the Hugs system, and how to respond to an abduction attempt. Hugs dealer IMS offered training to ensure that the hospital met the preparedness standards set by JCAHO.

“It's a team effort,” says Dye.

FOR THE RECORD

ABOUT THE COMPANIES

For information, please circle the appropriate Reader Service number (listed below) on one of the Reader Service cards in the issue or visit infoLINK at www.securitysolutions.com.

Instantel	40
Innovative Medical Systems	41

Abduction is a sentinel event

The infant abduction problem was first highlighted in the early 1980s, but only recently has the healthcare industry moved broadly to implement measures to counter the threat. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) led the way in advocating the use of formal procedures involving education and physical security measures to prevent infant abduction.

In 1998, the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) signaled the importance of infant abduction by designating it as a “sentinel event,” one that involves death or serious, physical or psychological injury. Hospitals that suffer a sentinel event must conduct a detailed investigation into the causes, and risk losing their accreditation unless an approved action plan to prevent a recurrence is put in place. JCAHO also requires accredited facilities to maintain and regularly test procedures for preventing an infant abduction.

As the nation's predominant standards-setting and accrediting body in healthcare, JCAHO carries considerable weight. Healthcare institutions everywhere are responding to JCAHO's new requirements not only with comprehensive plans to respond to an abduction attempt, but also with sophisticated security systems designed to prevent an abduction.

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© 2008 Penton Media Inc.

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