Healthcare facilities provide a safe and healthy environment for their employees and patients. In practice, many barriers and controls emerge, interrupting a smooth flow of processes in hospitals. As healthcare establishments have a regular inflow of patients and visitors, some security elements are neglected. Therefore, Johns Hopkins Hospital security will be reviewed to identify the challenges to barrier management of the facility.
Barrier management addresses the critical controls within the healthcare facility environment which must be monitored and assessed on a regular basis. The establishment and maintenance of the barriers allow mitigating the risks, preventing undesirable circumstances, and limiting the consequences. There are many types of barriers, some of which are related to either technological or anthropogenic factors. In barrier management, it is critical to identify all those factors in order to elaborate on the preventive measures, manage threats, create action plans, and implement better control. Additional audits and inspections might be necessary to establish a causal relationship between the barriers and operational disturbances.
During the periods of increased facility security, the role of healthcare workers in barrier management is immense. Within such circumstances, the alertness and attention of healthcare professionals are doubled because the increased facility security implies that a number of critical controls are growing. They need to identify and maintain the barriers of various types, including physical, chemical, biological, and human factor hazards. The first jeopardy group is related to physical factors, such as poor lighting and ventilation, noise, slippery floors, invasions, and interventions that cause disturbances within the healthcare facilities. Biological hazards include viruses and bacteria that can cause disease. Chemical risks are associated with various substances harmful to people. The last jeopardy group includes human factor hazards connected with mental illnesses in some patients or the physical condition of the healthcare workers that prevent them from doing their job properly. According to Loeppke (2017), all individuals, who are responsible for providing care and supporting the needs of patients, should comprehend that a healthy and safe work environment is essential. Otherwise, patient safety would be undermined and placed at risk. Therefore, healthcare professionals must address their health and safety prior to providing caregiving services. Johns Hopkins Hospital in Maryland has elaborated on the comprehensive guidelines and instructions for healthcare professionals to help them in barrier management during the period of increased facility security.
The potential solutions must be developed to protect staff, patients, and visitors in case of increased facility security. In Johns Hopkins Hospital in Maryland, the patients are encouraged to understand and accept their rights and responsibilities to become partners in care within the healthcare team (“Patient Rights and Responsibilities,” n.d.). Indeed, one potential solution to enhance protection is when “integrated patient/employee health and safety initiatives seek to achieve the improvement in the patient environment while enhancing the health, safety, and well-being of employees” (Loeppke, 2017, p. 810). According to Coupland (2014), a complex security environment is generally characterized by a combination of factors, including violence, environmental disaster, or weak governance. The second potential solution is a long-term strategy that involves education plans and practical training for the healthcare workers, which are particularly focused on the implementation of advanced information systems for monitoring and security (Al-Hadban, Yusof, & Hashim, 2017). As Johns Hopkins Hospital workers are sometimes reluctant to raise concerns about unsafe behaviors of their co-workers and patients, the barriers must be identified with the assistance of security control systems.
To address the critical controls within the healthcare facility, a barrier management investigation is needed. The established barriers, including physical, chemical, biological, and human factor hazards, must be maintained and mitigated. Finally, the implementation of solutions, when patients become the partners in care, and advanced security systems are installed, is necessary.
References
Al-Hadban, W., Yusof, S., & Hashim, K. (2017). The barriers and facilitators to the adoption of new technologies in public healthcare sector: A qualitative investigation. International Journal of Business and Management, 12(1), 159-168.
Coupland, R. (2014). The role of health-related data in promoting the security of health care in armed conflict and other emergencies. International Review of the Red Cross, 95(889), 61–71.
Loeppke, R. (2017). Interaction of health care worker health and safety and patient health and safety in the us health care system: Recommendations from the 2016 summit. Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 59(8), 803-813.
Patient rights and responsibilities. (n.d.). Web.