The first Planning and Training for an Active Shooter Event, a day-long workshop addressing the need for greater awareness surrounding violent events in health care settings, was held at Presbyterian Intercommunity Hospital June 21.

Developed for hospitals by hospitals, the primary objective for the workshop was to prepare attendees to implement active shooter policies, procedures and training at their facilities. Clinical and non-clinical staff and educators as well as security personnel were in attendance representing a large cross-section of settings, including acute care, clinics and skilled nursing facilities.

According to Homeland Security News Wire, violence in hospitals is on the rise, with a 300 percent increase in reported homicides, assaults and rapes in the last five years. Health care leads all sectors, with 45 percent of non-fatal assaults against its workers.

In a related survey, responses indicated that more than 40 percent of hospital workers feel unprepared to respond to an active shooter or bomber at their facility. Another 32 percent don’t believe their hospital’s security personnel have received enough instruction.

This timely workshop provided an opportunity for participants to engage in training that highlighted steps to improve the overall culture of safety: discussing the scenario, incident activation, crisis communications, initial response strategies and tactical response.

Darren Morgan, Director of Security, Safety & PBX at San Antonio Community Hospital and vice chair of the HASC Safety and Security committee, stressed the importance of the training. “It’s important to get all of the departments thinking about this, the whole organization,” he said. “The goal is to provide the safest environment for our patients and our staff. In the event of an active shooter, we are all at risk, so we all need to be prepared with a plan, with the right tools and resources to respond to violence in our facilities. Workshops like this are key to being prepared.”

The workshop was sponsored by California Hospital Association and the HASC Safety and Security Committee.