Faced with an ever increasing number of cases of violent attacks on medical staff, hospitals in Málaga province are busy installing extra security systems.
The hospitals Clínico, Carlos Haya, Materno, Civil and Costa del Sol have all opted to introduce some form of ‘panic button’ so that staff can alert the security staff of any implied or imminent threat of danger.
Carlos Haya hospital installed fifty panic buttons about three months ago and the buttons themselves, located in a wide variety of areas from consulting rooms to wash rooms, are camouflaged. The fifty buttons are connected to a computer screen in the Emergency Room where one of twenty-nine security guards is always on duty. If a button is pressed, a light flashes on the screen and off go the security boys to check it out.
The hospital is now installing more of these panic buttons throughout the hospital complex including 12 in the Acute Mental Health unit of the Civil hospital, 8 in the Pediatrics unit and 8 in the Maternity unit (!).
The hospital Costa del Sol has chosen a different type of operating system. The panic button is actually the F12 key on the computers. When pressed, a message comes up on the screen asking for confirmation and if the answer is ‘OK’ then, once again, the security team comes to check out the situation. The hospital has chosen this system to try and avoid false alarms.