Swaddled In Safety

Jan 1, 2007 12:00 PM, By Steven Elder

The use of electronic systems to prevent abduction of newborn infants is now a commonplace feature of birthing hospitals. These systems are intended to alert staff when an infant is removed from the designated “safe” area without authorization. However, the presence of an infant protection system alone does not provide a complete defense against infant abduction. The system must be part of a larger hospital-wide effort that involving a detailed procedure to respond to an abduction attempt; trained and involved staff who know how to execute the procedure; and informed parents who can be the first line of defense.

An effective infant security program also requires that the infant protection system be fully integrated into the hospital's existing access control and security systems. An alarm in the infant abduction system should trigger appropriate behavior in connected systems to prevent a potential abductor from leaving the facility. This system integration must be carefully thought out so that it meshes smoothly with workflow and existing access protocols. St. Mary's Hospital for Women and Children of Evansville, Ind., is a facility that has taken this broad approach to infant security.

The hospital initiated steps to assess existing infant security measures even before beginning a search for appropriate technology. The hospital established an evaluation committee to comprehensively review its methods to protect infants with representatives from security and caregivers in the nursery, mother/baby care, labor and delivery and the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Staffs in all areas were allowed to provide input to decision-making process for selection of an appropriate infant protection system. A noteworthy result of this approach was a decision to extend security protection to the pediatrics department, an often-overlooked area where the abduction threat is just as real. Inclusion of pediatrics patients would also have a major impact on the infant protection solution that St. Mary's ultimately selected.

The hospital began its efforts to “harden the target” for any potential infant abductor by reviewing all of its exits from the obstetric and pediatric areas. Obstetrics stretches over an entire floor, including areas for the NICU. The pediatrics department is located one floor above. There are numerous stairwell and fire exits from this extensive area. After reviewing options with the systems integrator, Innovative Medical Systems Inc., the hospital decided that each exit needed to be secured with a magnetic door lock that could be bypassed only by staff using their access cards. Visitors to the maternal child area or pediatrics would have access exclusively through elevators serving these floors. However, it quickly became apparent that securing exits alone would be insufficient protection against infant abduction. For example, a potential abductor could slip through one of the doors when an employee passed through or when exiting via the elevator.

The next logical step was to select a dedicated electronic infant protection system that could interface with the existing access control system. The hospital selected the Hugs system from VeriChip Corp., Delray Beach, Fla., because it offered integration flexibility to meet the key requirement of covering both the obstetrics and pediatrics areas.

The installation devised by Innovative Medical Systems ensures that the infant protection system works in concert with the access control system. Each exit from the coverage area is protected by a door monitor device controlled by the infant protection system. Whenever a tagged infant is brought close to the exit, the infant protection system activates a relay on the door monitor. This signal is passed through to the access control system to disable the access card reader at the door. In this way, it is impossible for a staff member to inadvertently open the door for an abductor. Even if the door is already open when the infant is brought near, the infant protection system will immediately go into alarm, notifying staff at each of several computer terminals around the coverage area, and in the security department. However, in normal conditions, doors should not be open; the system will also report a “door ajar” alarm if an exit door is left open for more than a pre-set time.

The elevators serving obstetrics and pediatrics are protected in a slightly different way. As this is the main means of access, special care is taken to minimize potential disruption. The door-monitoring device travels in the elevator car, so that an infant passing through the elevator lobby on either the obstetrics or pediatrics floors will not cause an alarm so long as the elevator doors are closed. As soon as a tagged infant is brought toward an open elevator, however, any elevator currently on the floor will be held until the alarm condition is cleared.

Other alarm conditions from the infant protection system can change the behavior of the access control system. The infant protection system can generate alerts if someone tampers with the band that attaches the tag to the infant's ankle; if the tag is loose; or if the tag is no longer being detected. These alarm conditions are programmed to disable all of the access card readers in the coverage area, since the would-be abductor could choose any exit. In addition, any elevator that is currently on either of the two floors covered by the system will not be allowed to move until the alarm condition is cleared.

Staffs in both the obstetric and pediatrics departments have been educated in the interaction of the infant protection and access control systems, and more importantly, they know what to do in the event of an infant abduction attempt. This combination of staff awareness and careful integration of infant protection with access control gives St. Mary's Hospital for Women and Children a solid defense against the infant abduction threat.

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Steven Elder is communication specialist for VeriChip Corp., Delray Beach, Fla.

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