Is hospital security in the States really that lax or is it just on TV?
Posted by astarisaslave@reddit | AskAnAmerican | View on Reddit | 135 comments
Almost every US medical drama I've come across has an active shooter episode where a gunman enters the hospital with intent to kill or someone with an axe to grind is really just able to bring a concealed weapon in order to intimidate someone later. It blows my mind as a foreigner. Is that all just played up for drama or does it mirror real life? And if the latter why is security still so lax at hospitals after all these years? Shouldn't the security be at least as tight as at a bank given that healthcare workers are critical, patients are vulnerable and hospital databases contain sensitive info on patients?
Obligatory I am asking this in good faith to learn something so the mods don't take it down
WhereasTherefore@reddit
How secure are hospitals where you’re from? Do you have to go through a metal detector to enter one?
astarisaslave@reddit (OP)
Yes
Sparkle_Rott@reddit
Dang. What have y’all got going on in your hospitals? I mean we have an occasional grocery store shooting and we don’t put up metal detectors or have security at the doors. What prompted that for y’all’s hospitals?
astarisaslave@reddit (OP)
It isn't just in hospitals it's everywhere. Over here there's security in schools, at train stations, even convenience stores. Just today I had to get past a metal detector just to get into my office building. A lot of it had to do with a bunch of terrorist bombings that happened decades ago so security tightened up everywhere
KatTheTumbleweed@reddit
Where on earth do you live?
astarisaslave@reddit (OP)
Philippines.
Unlucky_Community_99@reddit
bro lives in Israel
anneofgraygardens@reddit
I'd guess this is India. This description actually seems like less security than you'd see in Israel.
RoutineCranberry3622@reddit
What country are you in? Around here there isn’t any security at banks, schools, hospitals, stores, transit stations, typical stuff you encounter daily except airports.
turquoise_amethyst@reddit
Czechia?
cmh_ender@reddit
used to work at an inner city hospital (kansas city). we had to put in an "air lock" at the ED doors because so many gang bangers were coming in armed to check on a hurt member or to finish the job.
we also had to put armed security in the Labor and Delivery waiting room... you can guess why.
WhereasTherefore@reddit
Fair enough. No that’s not common here.
There’s certainly locked doors and security guards, but you usually can enter the lobby and some less secure areas just by walking in.
shelwood46@reddit
There is somewhat more security on the maternity ward, in that kids have tags that match the parent/s, usually bracelets, mostly because we've largely switched to having the babies in the parent's room instead of one big ward, and also there have been more baby switches/kidnappings than there have been shootings (and there haven't actually been that many switches/kidnappings, but better safe than sorry).
Imaginary_Ladder_917@reddit
My local hospital also has a Children’s Hospital as part of it, and they are pretty strict with who can enter and leave there. They may have the matching electronic bracelets for parent and child there as well.
WhereasTherefore@reddit
Yeah, there’s certainly parts of the hospital behind locked doors, but I’ve never had to go through a metal detector in a US hospital.
real_agent_99@reddit
It's absolutely normal where I am in the US. Even at our outpatient facilities all have metal detectors.
Extreme_Turn_4531@reddit
It is common in larger cities to have metal detectors and screening points at the doors. I have specifically worked at hospitals in Durham, NC; Wilmington, NC; Detroit, MI; and Newark, DE that had them. All of those hospitals had had at least one episode of someone showing up with a gun in the hospital.
To answer OPs question. Security is present but it is not as tight as it could be. Every violent episode I can recall was managed by the staff before security arrived. Security is very expensive and never generates revenue. It's America. Need I say more?
CobandCoffee@reddit
The only time I've had to go through a metal detector in a hospital is when going to the ER and that's a recent development. Oh that and I had to go through security when dropping a client off at a Psych hospital. I don't remember that being a thing a few years ago. Otherwise you can just walk right in. You may have to get past a front desk/ be buzzed in but that's to more to make sure that you have a valid reason to be there. There's no security check. That's been my experience at a handful of hospitals in a few different states.
Pirate_Lantern@reddit
Why? Are shootings and terrorists a big problem there?
guy_incog_neato@reddit
ive been to two major hospitals within philadelphia over the last year-ish. both had metal detectors, security personnel checking bags and any non-patient has to check in, give ID and get a badge. granted these were inner city hospitals so their security it prob tighter. however, when i visited my sister after she had a baby at a suburb hospital, they still had metal detectors and you had to check in before getting through to the lobby. they don’t want people just wandering around i guess.
that being said, ive never heard of a hospital shooting happening at any of these places.
Ok_Investigator_6494@reddit
The Mayo Clinic started sending everyone through security screening a couple years ago here in the US. So at least some large hospitals are doing it. https://www.mayoclinic.org/vid-20536252
JudgeWhoOverrules@reddit
That's because it's Minnesota, the one in Phoenix has nothing like that. High crime areas get high crime precautions.
acorpcop@reddit
The Mayo Clinic is Rochester MN, which isn't exactly a hotbed of crime. It's well outside the Twin Cities and all of the horseshittery going on there. Like 80 miles outside. It's closer to the Spam Museum than it is MPLS/STP. More likely to say that they have heightened security posture there because of the renown of the place and it's high profile.
Ok_Investigator_6494@reddit
I'd recommend stepping away from Fox News for a bit. Minnesota isn't a warzone, and Rochester specifically (a small city 1.5 hours away from the twin cities) has very low crime rates for a city of its size and is regularly listed as one of the best small cities in the country to live in.
CobandCoffee@reddit
Do you know if that's just the Minnesota location or when they started that? My wife spent a collective 4 weeks in the Jacksonville Mayo clinic less than 3 years ago and I don't recall any kind of security.
Ok_Investigator_6494@reddit
I want to say it's been in the past couple years. I can't speak to Jacksonville or Arizona, but at least in Minnesota they now screen for weapons at all entrances.
thisemmereffer@reddit
I went there a few weeks ago to visit a sick friend, walked in with two bags of fast food on a sunday. "Are you visiting or do you have an appointment" the guy says
Prometheus_303@reddit
I don't recall exactly when they started (within the last year or so), but my small middle of no where rural town's hospital has security & a metal detector ... But just at the emergency room entrance.
The main front door is only maybe like 3 dozen yards away and there is nothing stopping you from walking in - the door even slides open to welcome you into the hospital! There's an elevator you can go up in before you even pass the receptionist (or whatever her title is).
The back door is equally unguarded.
TheSpeedyBee@reddit
All of our ERs have metal detectors, the other wings do not.
real_agent_99@reddit
My health system has them.
rutherfraud1876@reddit
Just the Emergency Department
SubstantialListen921@reddit
I’ve been sent through metal detectors in hospitals in two different states in the last several years.
Donald_J_Duck65@reddit
I have only had to pass through security in one hospital my whole life, I am 60. Shootings and violence in hospitals are rare.
witty__username5@reddit
Remove "US" from your question. Now ask yourself it? "Almost every medical drama I've come across has an... " . Are you really basing real life off of what you see on not only medical shows, but medical *dramas*?
THE_CENTURION@reddit
You're acting like it's obvious but think about it a little more.
Of all the things that happen on a medical drama, the vast majority are pretty real. The processes and procedures, the terminology, the equipment, the design of the building and rooms... Sure they're played for drama but not completely made up.
It seems simply and easy to say "well tv isn't real, duh", but... A lot of it is real. And people come here all the time to ask if we have red solo cups and yellow school buses "like in the shows", which we do. So how are they supposed to know?
ehs06702@reddit
If we were asking something equally improbable about their country because it was on a fictional show, they'd call us stupid Americans.
I don't think it's ridiculous to expect them to also be able to use their common sense.
THE_CENTURION@reddit
How is it "common sense" to know a fact about a country you've never been to?
Where are you supposed to pick up that information in life?
Also you're projecting a behavior that some non Americans occasionally do onto the entire damn planet?? Even onto a person who is curious and didn't assume, but actually took the time to nicely ask? And you think THEY'RE the stupid asshole????
ehs06702@reddit
I'm not being and asshole by expecting them to think and I think I was also pretty nice by expressing my puzzlement at their habitual inability to use their common sense about reality vs fiction.
ehs06702@reddit
It's so weird to me that fiction seems to inspire more questions than anything else. I don't watch Sherlock and assume it's a perfect representation of the UK, so why would they assume that a fictional show is an accurate representation of the US.
ImamofKandahar@reddit
I don’t think they do, that’s why they ask. It’s hard to know what’s fictional and what’s not because you don’t know what you don’t know.
ehs06702@reddit
They expect us to use our brains when the situation is reversed, I think it's quite fair to expect them to use their own for once.
Asparagus9000@reddit
Only certain areas have security. Not the whole thing.
You can do that pretty much anywhere in America that doesn't have metal detectors, which is a very small list. It's illegal, but that doesn't stop people that are planning to commit a crime anyways.
Banks don't have that tight a security either. My bank at least has basically none visible.
AliMcGraw@reddit
The idea of local banks having security guards seems CRAZY to me. Okay if you're the bank headquarters with 2500 employees, but why does my local branch need a GUARD?
n00bdragon@reddit
Depends on how big the branch is. If it's a small branch in a residential neighborhood then no, there probably won't be any security at all. A big downtown branch might have one guy, but most of his job isn't stopping bank robbers. It's shooing homeless people off the steps.
CobandCoffee@reddit
The illegal part depends on where you're at. It may be illegal in your state through in plenty of places it's perfectly legal to carry in a hospital. In Kentucky that's the case even if they have a sign as those don't carry the force of law here.
W2Sun@reddit
I'm not sure if you just worded this wrong, but that's incorrect.
I believe every single state has some form of concealed carry now, some require classes, others the bar is lower, I assume permits are required at least in every state but there may be a few outliers.
Typically whether under state/local law or because of signage by said businesses, you cannot concealed carry into medical facilities though which might be what you meant. Maybe there's a federal law I don't know, usually it's just posted.
Tacoshortage@reddit
25 years ago, I was in the oldest hospital in America and we were operating on a guy who's girlfriend had shot him. Our hospital had metal detectors at the main entrance (although I knew residents who carried daily) and we had our own police force for the hospital and area of town near the hospital.
Well this guy's girlfriend managed to get past security, onto the surgery floor and was roaming the halls looking for him to finish the job. Our police arrested her in the hallways but she had already peeked in our room earlier and couldn't recognize her husband because we had him already draped.
But generally, the security is decent.
Angry_GorillaBS@reddit
Not sure what it's like in other places but anytime I've been to a hospital, security is a guy sitting at a desk and making rounds.
DGlen@reddit
It only happens on TV. Not that you couldn't easily walk into a hospital with a gun hidden I'd imagine. It's not like they screen everyone that comes through the door.
sneezhousing@reddit
Shootings in hospital really don't happen. Like I've never heard of one in any of the cities I've lived. That would for sure make the news of it did
Happens in every TV hospital drama like it's a normal occurrence though.
jckipps@reddit
Security at hospitals is tighter than banks, at least around here in Virginia.
At hospitals, you need authorization from the front desk to go through locked doors into the patient corridors. Emergency entrances often have security guards who check you for weapons before entering the waiting room.
In contrast, anyone can walk into a bank without being checked. There's typically no security guard on site.
AbiWil1996@reddit
At my local hospital, you can walk in the ER or almost any entrance with no one bothering you. At another hospital, the ER entrance has a security guard outside the door and you have to go through a metal detector. The children’s hospital here doesn’t even have a security guard.
Swimming-Book-1296@reddit
TV is not real. The things that happen on TV are unrealistic.
GrimSpirit42@reddit
Yeah...don't base your outlook on TV shows. They are sensationalism.
jacktheBOSS@reddit
Hospital shootings are extremely rare outside of TV.
Agitated-Sock3168@reddit
Agreed - I've never shot anybody in a hospital... and I've been working in hospitals for over 30 years. It's not specifically listed as such; but I'm pretty sure that would be considered a fireable offense and I hate looking for a new job.
TheBimpo@reddit
It’s TV man, these are not normal scenarios. Hospitals are not heavily concerned about gun men. There is usually a form of security in a hospital, but it may be a 70-year-old retiree. We don’t have Army Rangers in front of the ER. Despite the popularity of violence in our television programs, scenarios like this are basically unheard of.
wawa2022@reddit
Depends on the hospital I guess. When I used to visit my mom in hospital in the whitest maga-ish area in Va, it was like a maximum security prison. You couldn’t smuggle a damn donut inside. I went to the ER a few months ago also in northern Va but closer in to the city and the lone security guard was prob making $9 /hr and was half asleep. There’s no way he was gonna risk his life to stop someone with a gun.
Salty_Dog2917@reddit
I wish the Pitt would stop airing outside the USA.
Gallahadion@reddit
At this point, I'm beginning to wish none of our media made it outside of the U.S.
Oomlotte99@reddit
I just saw someone asking similar questions on the Pitt sub… like, is it just TV or are we all so accustomed to people pulling guns that we instinctively hit the ground…
Steerider@reddit
Generally you're either a patient, or are given a visitor pass of some sort. Need to identify who you're visiting for that pass. Once you're in though, you can wander quite a bit. Often times wards will have a keycard to get in, but often tines not. (The keycards may be more of a thing at kids hospitals.)
FondleGanoosh438@reddit
Most shootings at hospitals happen outside when the rival gang is trying to finish off the mark when they arrive.
Leverkaas2516@reddit
Sure, at my local hospital in the US, I can just walk in, go up the elevator or stairs, and enter any random patient room. There IS a uniformed police officer at the entrance, but he doesn't do anything but watch you enter. So if you're behaving normally and not brandishing a weapon, no problem.
The same was true of a hospital in Germany that I visited, except thwre was no officer at the entrance.
What's security like at your nearest hospital?
Cant-think-of-a-nam@reddit
The hospitals i been to the security guards seemed pretty useless and they dont get paid enough or any real training to handle a situation like that and well something like that rarely ever happens
angmarsilar@reddit
I work at several hospitals and security is variable. At the two largest, there's an employee entrance that you have to swipe a badge to enter. No actual security personnel. One of those has a metal detector at the main entrances. The other has security at the main desk but no metal detectors. Another smaller hospital I work at has someone manning a detector for a few hours in the morning, but they're usually done by lunch.
Alternative_Knee@reddit
The hospital made a choice between openness for saving lives and security control, so it doesn't have the kind of total isolation that banks have.
Bluemonogi@reddit
“ Shouldn't the security be at least as tight as at a bank”
I live in a small town in a rural area. At both my local bank and local hospital you do not pass through metal detectors nor do you see armed guards. To my knowledge there has never been a shooter in either place.
Lemosopher@reddit
Here in the states, almost everybody dies in the hospital. It's dangerous.
gadget850@reddit
My hospital now has metal detectors and I had to give up my pocket knife on my last visit.
qu33nof5pad35@reddit
I guess it depends where you’re at. Only until recently, the hospital I work for installed metal detectors in the main lobby.
mostlygray@reddit
In real life, evil gunmen don't carry concealed weapons, they charge in waving their guns around and shooting at the ceiling like Yosemite Sam.
Seriously though I've never heard of security at a hospital. We also don't have security at banks. I've never seen an armed security guard at a bank like they show in movies. Banks have a couple thousand in loose cash at the most. No-one cares.
In America, people shoot up schools and churches. No, we don't understand why and we are doing nothing to prevent it.
Prestigious-Talk1112@reddit
Shootings at hospitals are rare but I worked at several hospitals for years and anybody could technically walk in there with a gun there's not metal detectors or anything like that although we had a lot of signs posted that said no guns past this point.
jawshoeaw@reddit
I work in a hospital and I don’t think I’ve ever seen any security… maybe in the parking garage helping people with dead batteries?
NarrowAd4973@reddit
As others are saying, someone probably could do this if they wanted. But it's exceedingly rare that anyone does.
I can only find 7 incidents, and it looks like they involved disgruntled employees, disgruntled patients (some with diagnosed mental illness), and one disgruntled ex-fiance.
riotousgrowlz@reddit
My mom was an ICU nurse for many years at a hospital that also serves the county jail and they had one case where a patient from the jail sharpened a spoon and then held a nurse hostage to get the guard’s gun and then tried to escape;while still in hospital gown with an IV) and was killed by police in a standoff in the tunnels that connect the hospital to the jail. She also had a patient whose husband brought a chainsaw in to threaten staff when he was unhappy with her care. Truly wild stories.
AdjectiveMcNoun@reddit
It really depends where you are. Some hospitals just let you walk in with no security at all, others have metal detectors and sign in for guests. Regardless of where though, shootings at hospitals are not very common. Schools, churches, stores/malls, nightclubs...these are the more common type of public shootings.
BurnerCommenter@reddit
As someone with little to no knowledge of hospital security, I’ve rarely if every heard of someone going into a hospital and killing people. That stuff would make national news so I would wager it’s played up for media
TymStark@reddit
We recently had someone threaten to come shoot someone in the hospital I work at…it didn’t happen. They locked the hospital down. Like I couldn’t even come in to work locked down.
TymStark@reddit
I work at a Level 1 Trauma Hospital at night. Granted I work in the OR, but I do leave the OR to go get patients. I see a security guard every once in a while. It’s locked down, but it’s not bad.
They will take anything they deem a weapon though, too include nice metal pens.
Devee@reddit
These mass shootings happen far, far too often. But they're still incredibly rare. Most people have never been near a mass shooting. I've never once worried about it or thought about it going anywhere. I don't mean to diminish the seriousness of it, but most people don't worry going to the hospital or going to school.
zeprfrew@reddit
In the last two years I've been to two hospitals in New Jersey. Both require all entrants to pass through a metal detector.
LastCookie3448@reddit
It’s often lax, barely present, and won’t engage with patients once they’ve moved beyond the waiting area.
blacklig@reddit
Why would you base what you think happens in America on what happens in drama tv shows???
shortbarrelflamer@reddit
It's funny. I remember a couple years back when a family member was admitted to our local hospital. They were brought into the ER and myself and other family members followed in shortly after. They were stabilized and we found out this is going to be a longer stay while they recovered. It was only when I went to leave for the evening I saw at the exits what was described by labels as a " gun scanner" at the entrance. It looks like those anti-theft scanner towers at big box stores that Go off if you take a tagged item through it. It was concerning because I carry a firearm everyday for self defense and had spent the entire day in the hospital, in many different wards and supposedly secure areas while carrying a firearm. Turns out the main non-emergency entrance had this gun scanner but the emergency room entrance where the ambulance pulls in didn't. You could walk in and out of the emergency entrance, which was right next to the security guard post, and nobody would bat an eye. So for the next week or so whenever I came to visit my loved one, I carried my gun and just made sure to use the emergency room entrance before checking in at the front desk while laughing at their " gun scanner"
Middle-Luck-997@reddit
I haven’t visited many hospitals in my lifetime, but there was one in Vegas that had security guards at all entrances with metal detectors. It was quite a surprise to me.
ehs06702@reddit
You either went to Valley or Sunrise, I'd bet. 😂
Middle-Luck-997@reddit
Sunrise! Yes. 😆
ehs06702@reddit
Yeah, that's in a more rough side of town.
My mom worked there like 20 years ago, and it's kinda sad to see the area so run down now.
One-Pangolin-3167@reddit
No. TV is not real.
The49GiantWarriors@reddit
Yes, hospital security is lax enough for someone to enter with a gun.
But it never happens.
Schools on the other hand....
genericuser_12345@reddit
This isn’t Grey’s Anatomy
the-quibbler@reddit
Very few hospitals have much security, and active shooters anywhere are such an extreme rarity that staffing for it isn't cost effective.
Yes, in general it's trivially easy to bring a properly concealed weapon anywhere in America. A small number of places (courthouses, sporting venues, schools in violent districts) may have metal detectors, but those are few and far between.
GrannyTurtle@reddit
The hospitals in my city have excellent security. They even have security dogs.
One tricky situation is that they can have multiple people shot in a single incident. These people are brought to the Level 1 Trauma Center. This can lead to the relatives of one victim wanting to fight the relatives of the other victim.
These situations must be carefully managed to keep the families separated. You also need to keep a shooter far away from his victim(s).
Emergency department work can be insanely stressful and unpredictable.
Oomlotte99@reddit
The main hospital in my city actually had an incident where a gang member came in and shot another gang member. Since that incident it is extremely secure. You have to check in with ID, have your picture taken, and go through a metal detector.
Other hospitals and ERs have security screen you through metal detector or wanding. Unfortunately, just this year the hospital in my downtown had a sad incident where a mentally disturbed man killed another person waiting in the ER. Upon having his delusion he left the ER to grab a weapon and was allowed to reenter with lax screening because the guards recognized him from before.
I can say I have not been to a hospital that did not have some security measures in at least two decades.
jessek@reddit
TV isn’t a good depiction of real life.
I learned that when I was 7 years old
relikter@reddit
I'm reading the other replies to this and realizing this is very dependent on where you are. When my wife had surgery at JHU in 2010, I had to show an ID and get a 24 hour pass each day that she was there.
When my wife gave birth in 2022 at a DC area hospital, I had to show an ID every 24 hours to get a pass that let me into the maternity ward for 24 hours.
This is going to be decided on a per hospital basis, and is likely more strict at hospitals in urban areas
174wrestler@reddit
That's when you walk in the front door. I've gone through two major university hospitals regularly through the back door: meet with people, do stuff in their labs, pick up prescriptions, eat a the food court. Though I never had a badge and you were technically supposed to have one, nobody ever said a thing.
relikter@reddit
Going through a back door at VHC when my wife gave birth, I can promise you that's not the case at every hospital.
Demiurge_Ferikad@reddit
I’ve been working in a hospital near a city with a high incidence of crime for almost five years. I cannot remember a single instance where there was an active shooter here in that time. Though anecdotal, I’d say my experience is pretty typical.
The risk is there, more than most places in the U.S., but it’s not something we generally have to worry about.
Appropriate-Food1757@reddit
It’s true there is no security protocol whatsoever, you just walk in.
I don’t think there is a need for it though. The drugs are locked up.
AliMcGraw@reddit
Hospitals DO use more police resources than places that are not hospitals, but they're not likely sites of mass shootings. They're just where crazy people go for help, and crazy people be crazy, and being extra-crazy often results in better help than being just mildly crazy.
My local hospital actually DOES have pretty intensive metal-detector screenings just in the last couple years since we had a mass shooting (at a parade), but it's staffed by cops who are also social workers (not just cop-cops) and they'll ask you why you're there and if you're like "I've been throwing up for three days and I think I'm dehydrated," they don't take away your pocket knife because they know you're not a threat. If you come in via ambulance, nobody is metal-detector-screening you.
If you come in acting like you're high on meth, they're probably going to screen you more carefully, but they just take your stuff and put it to one side and you get to regain it when you come back out. It's really not a big deal.
Because the cops are all social workers in addition to cops, they're actually super-nice and explain very clearly why something is allowed or isn't. I've taken a bunch of forbidden items inside (corkscrew, pocket knife) because they correctly judged that me and my mom purse were not any threat and I was just there because I had pneumonia.
Anyway, played for drama on TV. Even hospitals in very high-crime areas are only very rarely the site of shootings. During the height of "gangland" stuff in Chicago, hospitals were neutral truce sites, and taking a gun into a hospital could result in brutal retaliation from your own gang or the other gang, once you were out of the hospital. Even criminals understand the hospitals are there to save lives, and it's not okay to go threatening doctors and nurses, so they're truce sites, and hospital staff are off-limits even if they're outside waiting for public transit at an obscene hour.
(There is, btw, zero security at my bank besides cameras. I probably would not GO to a bank that had security guards, that seems weird. Americans also shop at grocery stores where you can just wander off with a cart if you want, and people don't. Stores also put displays in the parking lot -- usually annual flowers, dirt in sacks, pumpkins, that kind of thing -- and trust you to bring it in and check out. People generally do. Shrinkage on "parking lot displays" is quite small. Like many Americans I will grab any cart I pass on my way in and toss it ito the cart corral, and if I see a parent struggling with groceries and a cart and a child, I will slow down my unloading so I can offer to return their cart for them while I return my own. I absolutely fucking hate Aldi because they act like imma steal a cart and make me pay 25 cents to use one.)
shammy_dammy@reddit
The majority of US hospitals have security.
plantverdant@reddit
Security is not that lax, crime drama shows depict some professional settings as though it's still the 1970's when a lot of us working in the world weren't even alive then.
Icy_Introduction8445@reddit
Ten years ago I was delivering food for a restaurant in the Bronx. We got an order from a hospital from a dad who just had a kid. I delivered that order, I walked right in to the hospital walked passed security to the elevator and went up to the dads room to deliver the food. The dad had his baby in his arms and the mom was sleeping in the bed. The dad tipped me. $20 I was like wow. He was such a proud dad. I still couldn’t believe how easy it was for me to go up to the newborns room with his parents. But I guess the hospitals know what they’re doing.
Luckyangel2222@reddit
The hospital I go to added metal detectors to enter Emergency
copper_rabbit@reddit
The areas of a hospital with intense security center around infants because infant abduction is a very real threat. So the delivery and mother baby units.
We reserve active shooter style security measures for large highschools, sporting events, and courthouses.
Notorious_mmk@reddit
A hospital by me (Washington state) had metal detectors to enter the ER and I thought it was strange, and i work in Healthcare lol
Firm-Plantain8151@reddit
I currently work in a hospital and have worked in several across the states. Most of them have on-site security, most have metal detectors you have to walk through (unless you're staff), and most require you to check in and get a visitor badge. That said, in several, it would be laughably easy to walk in with a weapon. It doesn't happen too often, I think even mass shooters don't tend to target hospitals.
However, when I was a student 6 (I think?) years ago, one of our students a year above me was at her internship in a small hospital at the edge of the metro, and a guy walked in and shot up the place. Several people died. but that's the only one I know of personally in the last 6 years, so not common.
TrickyCan9496@reddit
It varies significantly from hospital to hospital. Personally, I have been to hospitals that require legal ID and a metal detector but also hospitals you can just walk into. Either way, idk of a major hospital shootling.
davideogameman@reddit
I can't think of a single shooter at a hospital instance, though it feels like every few weeks there's another major shooting - many are at schools. So my guess is tv plays that up but puts it in the hospital where it's a lot less common. But I haven't checked the stats.
As for is hospital security a joke - as far as armed guards, yeah they might have a few in some places but it's closer to mall security where they are there to deal with unruly people, not make it impossible to get in with a weapon. Hospitals have plenty of public areas - waiting rooms for everything from the ER to labs and radiology, often cafeterias and pharmacies.
Medication has it's own controlled access systems - most drugs would be controlled by the hospital pharmacy or in rooms/cabinets with logged access control - they have to account for all schedule 1 substances pretty strictly which includes opioids which definitely are a theft & abuse risk.
As for hospital databases - those would be run out of a data center or at least server rack somewhere, to which physical access should be strongly controlled. As for digital access - every doctor, nurse and other healthcare worker should have their own account and they would sign in with a password or badge. And when they are logged in they only have access to records they need for the job - ie a doctor should only get to view and edit records for their patients. Not every patient in the system. (Which can itself create friction, eg nurses may not have access to do certain data entry for the doctors... Health IT is a mess, but the privacy aspect is taken fairly seriously).
Armed guards aren't really the answer to either medication security or IT security, other than keeping unauthorized folks away from the pharmacy & the server room.
As for patient security... Well generally hospitals allow visitors to most rooms during the day so what would security do? They may make people sign in. But it's not a prison, there are always lots of people coming and going.
Dorianscale@reddit
Guns are really common in the US. They “aren’t allowed” in hospitals, but there aren’t metal detectors or security checks so this culminates to a sign at the entrances. It’s mostly just an extra criminal charge if you get caught.
Hospitals are fairly open, you can walk through most common areas, waiting rooms and reception areas easily. Areas with patients or places with specialized equipment are usually locked behind closed doors.
The more open ones I’ve seen are to the side of a nurses station that you can easily jump over in this situation. The more closed down ones have security glass as a barrier at least or I’ve seen some where the entrance has a telephone you need to pick up to get buzzed in.
The main exceptions to this would be that you can usually get buzzed in if you know a patients name and possibly room number. Or if you go to somewhere like an ER that accepts walk-ins. You would just make up a condition, wait for a bit then get in the secure area.
I think most shows take place in an ER wing
PeaceAndLove1201@reddit
Please, please, please don’t ever judge America by the crap you see on TV. I worked at the same hospital for 40 years and we never had an active shooter, nor did I even hear of a shooting in any of the other hospitals in my town or the surrounding area.
I live in Texas and the last hospital shooting in our state was four years ago in one of our large cities when a guy wearing a law enforcement ankle bracelet, with known mental problems, shot two people after his wife had a baby which he was not sure was his.
mcfrems@reddit
Pediatrics and NICUs have very strict protocols from my experience
ehs06702@reddit
My sister had her baby last year, and I'm of the opinion that hospital security in the maternity ward is more competent and effective than the TSA.
SudburySonofabitch@reddit
It's exciting on tv but doesn't actually happen very often..
famousanonamos@reddit
No they aren't like they are on TV. I just watched an episode where they had a coma patient in a room directly off the waiting room and it was ridiculous. There are multiple layers of security doors depending on where you are going. Only the first layer one is usually locked, but the rest can be secured if there was some kind of intruder.
It has definitely gotten more secure in recent years, especially in labor and delivery. I had to show ID and get a sticker with my name and the patient's room last time I went to visit someone and then get buzzed in the door. It would be extremely unusual to have any sort of active shooter or hostage situation though.
chivopi@reddit
I worked in a hospital. They had security, but you also had to badge in to most areas.
NixMaritimus@reddit
Depending on what state you're in, it can be entirely legal to bring a concealed gun into a hospital and no-one would bat an eye.
Last month someone did just that, then proceeded to murder his wife and himself minutes after she'd given birth.
greeneggiwegs@reddit
There’s security for places like ICU, imaging rooms pharmacy etc, generally anywhere where treatment is going on, but for a normal patient room you can usually just walk into the hospital and go to their room. Also security often just means a locked door which staff can open with a badge or from inside.
Shootings aren’t really that common at hospitals.
StrangeSequitur@reddit
Hospital emergency rooms typically have metal detectors with security guards actively monitoring them and doing bag checks.
Inpatient areas will usually have a guard and require guest check-in.
The parts of hospitals where you go for pre-scheduled visits with specialists or imaging appointments you can just walk right into and out of no questions asked, usually.
Foghorn2005@reddit
Over the last several years security has gone way up. My current hospital has patients and guests only go through metal detectors at every entrance, but at my last hospital they also made staff go through them as well.
ProfessionalCat7640@reddit
Hospitals are a place that are not typically targeted, it more rare. Recently you see that in schools, music concerts, and weirdly, grocery stores. Collectively US citizens are so afraid of mounting medical debt even active shooters are like, "Nope, I'm not going in the hospital. I could never afford it!".
Visions_of_Gideon@reddit
Not common in real life, at least not at main entrances. I worked at a hospital for a few years and the only time we had actual security screenings was during early days of Covid when everyone had to be checked for fever before they were allowed inside. Aside from that, you’ll have “restricted” areas of a hospital that usually aren’t manned by security guards but have doors you need a badge to swipe into, like intensive care units or maternity wards.
Pirate_Lantern@reddit
Hospitals en't big targets for violence.
What you see on those tv dramas is exactly that....DRAMA. It's fiction meant to entertain and not a reflection on real life.
Environmental-End961@reddit
Working in hospitals and traveling around the country to different ones for a while, I would say it’s a mix. Most, especially smaller facilities, do not have any metal detector or security you have to go through to enter. Most larger or city hospitals I’ve been in, now have metal detectors and usually actual police. I think there’s more hospital shootings and violence than the general public is aware of or would like to admit. Active shooter education is now a part of my yearly competencies.
zusia@reddit
I’m still upset that in Line of Duty Georgia (Jessica Raine) got pushed out the window to her death. It happens all over UK tv!
BoBoBearDev@reddit
It is lax, there is no metal detectors in the hospital I went. But i think there is too many cameras. Easier to just attack them outside.
Sun_Sprout@reddit
Out of curiosity, are you asking because there is tough security where you are or because you think these events might happen often enough to warrant such security?
I haven’t spent much time at the hospital luckily, but the one I went to a few months ago had two security guards and a metal detector at the entrance, and then you immediately had to sign in with your name and info. That was an ER attached to a hospital, when I’ve visited people in the hospital I have not had the same screening.
I don’t think the events you’re talking about are common if they happen at all, I would think the extra security is for people experiencing mental health episodes or the like.
Negative-Arachnid-65@reddit
Everything on TV is played up.
But - hospitals aren't particularly secure, other than especially sensitive areas (maternity wards, pharmaceuticals, digital info systems, that sort of thing). They do typically have security teams and will add police or additional security if a special situation arises.
gaymersky@reddit
Ummm there isn't hardly any security maybe one dude at the front. Maybe one rounds...
LabInner262@reddit
Depends on the hospital and the time of day and the general location and the kinds of patients present. 💝 Some are pretty lax, especially in rural settings. Some are like maximum security prisons. Most are somewhere in between.
Bigbadbrindledog@reddit
Hospital security has ramped up in recent years it seems, but was pretty much non existent 20+ years ago.
I don't recall ever going through a metal detector until more recently.
Stressed_C@reddit
Just TV. In recent years more and more hospitals have security check points at the ER or main entrance of the hospital to stop anyone that could be a threat to visitors, staff and patients. Also the increase of assault on healthcare workers has made security more heavy.
Traditional-Joke-179@reddit
Hospitals in real life aren't particular targets of shooters or other bad guys. They don't usually have security clearances, though they may have some kind of security guard, but it's not a need. What you've seen on TV is just done for drama.