Use of Canines in Healthcare Security Departments
The unfortunate trend of increased violence in healthcare has many hospital leaders re-evaluating their current violence prevention programs, including security practices. Patient care staff and security personnel are often subject to physical and verbal assaults (cite?) which results in high costs related to employee injury, job dissatisfaction and turnover, as well as a negative patient care environment. Hospital leadership need to look for alternatives to their current violence prevention plans, such as expansion of the security program to include canine (K9) units. Similar to police dogs, hospital K9 units can partner with security personnel to reduce violence and improve safety. The use of K9 units in hospitals is an underutilized yet effective method for preventing violence and improving security, patient care staff and patient morale.
Overview and Prevalence in US Hospitals…show more content… In a survey of 340 hospitals, Schoenfisch & Pompeii found that only 12% of security departments maintain K9 units, whereas handcuffs, batons, pepper spray products, hand guns and conducted electrical weapons (TASERS®) are used more regularly. Given that the hospital environment is intended to be a therapeutic environment, arming security personnel with deadly weapons seems contradictory. While violence in hospital settings is on the rise, K-9 units offer an alternative to providing security personnel with lethal weapons that could be discharged inappropriately (Sarnese,
