Hospital rare shootings, but rates of other top researchers assults found (science daily)

PharmaLive.com (9 December 2010) - aspects as one in which a gunman shot and killed a doctor and killed a patient in hospital Johns Hopkins in September are "extremely rare", but other attacks on workers in the U.S. health care media rate is four times higher than other workplaces, concluding two doctors emergency at Johns Hopkins University after examining violence in the workplace in the health care settings.

Aggression in all industries in the private sector in the United States rate is two per 10,000, compared to eight per 10,000 health care sites, note Gabor d. Kelen, M.D. and Christina l. Catlett, M.D., in a comment which will be published in the December 8 in the journal of the American Medical Association.

As a result, while specialist media hospital and other attention, shootings of it security should concentrate their efforts on the prevention of common daily assaults in hospitals and other health care facilities, says Kelen, Professor and President of the Johns Hopkins Department of Emergency Medicine.

In room JAMA Kelen and Catlett say that they determined a review of the violence in health care institutions that invest massively in the magnetometers or other expensive high-tech security measures to prevent the shooting, then a popular idea is not claimed, taking into account the shootings rare how are health care.

«Magnetometers certainly project an aura of protection.» they are however not a panacea for security in most health care settings "say Kelen and Catlett."

Indeed, supporting authors, metal detectors can "emote a false sense of security" because they do not detect non-metallic weapons and have no effect on the prevention of attacks in which no weapon is used. As a report found, magnetometers, installed in a hospital did not reduce the number of weapons found in the areas of treatment because patients typically convoluted detectors. "What is important is there were no changes in the rate of assaults," the authors write.

To further emphasize their point, Kelen and Catlett found in their review of the available several shots health outside the institutions not inside.

Than to concentrate on prevention of daily attacks more common sophisticated workplace instead of installing hardware control health care providers, the authors state that wait for perfect hospital security must align with the realities of contemporary life in United States, with its high rate of violence and incivility. In short, said Kelen, perfection of security in hospitals is a reasonable expectation that cannot be satisfied.

Warning: this article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those PharmaLive.com or its staff.

Source of the story:

The story above is reproduced (with drafting adaptations by staff at PharmaLive.com) materials provided by Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions.

Reference of the review:

Kelen, g. d., c. l. Catlett. Violence in the health care facility. JAMA: Journal of the American Medical Association, 2010; 304 (22): 2530 DOI: 10.1001/jama.2010.1795

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited for this.