Attitudes Toward the Use of a Metal Detector in an Urban Emergency Department☆,☆☆,★
Section snippets
INTRODUCTION
Urban EDs treat a substantial number of assault-, firearm-, and gang-related injuries. As a result, the risk of violent behavior on the part of patients and their friends, family members, and enemies, who might bring concealed weapons into the ED, is increased. In fact, surveys have demonstrated that violent or potentially violent events are relatively common in the ED. For instance, 20% of EDs report at least one threat with a weapon each month.1 The threat of violence is therefore a
MATERIALS AND METHODS
We conducted our study in the ED of Vanderbilt University Hospital, an urban university hospital located in Nashville, TN. The hospital is the only Level I trauma center serving a metropolitan area of approximately 1 million people. Patients not brought by ambulance, along with their family and friends, must pass through a metal detector to enter the triage area and waiting room. The metal detector is staffed 24 hours a day by a university security guard. The initial equipment and setup charges
RESULTS
We interviewed 176 patrons (62 patients, 114 family members or friends) and 95 ED employees (35 nurses, 30 physicians, 16 security officers, and 14 staff members). Among the patrons, 50% were women and 40% were black. Their mean age was 40.3 years (range, 18 to 82 years), and 45 (26%) were interviewed between the hours of midnight and 8 am.
Eighty percent of patrons and 85% of employees said they liked the metal detector. Ninety percent of patrons and 73% of employees said they felt safer with
DISCUSSION
Although reported threats with weapons in our ED were few before the installation of the metal detector, this phenomenon has been a problem in other hospitals. In a survey of 127 US teaching hospital EDs, 20% reported at least one threat with a weapon each month, and 46% reported the confiscation of a weapon at least once a month.1 In another study of the prevalence of weapons possession by ED patients, 500 patients suspected of carrying weapons were searched over a 20-month period; 89 (18%)
Acknowledgements
We acknowledge the efforts of Paul Biddinger, Randall Grubbs, and Daniel Penn in data collection.
References (5)
- et al.
Emergency department violence in US teaching hospitals
Ann Emerg Med
(1988) - et al.
Residents’ perspectives on violence and personal safety in the emergency department
Ann Emerg Med
(1994)
Cited by (0)
- ☆
From the Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee.
- ☆☆
Reprint no.47/1/80645
- ★
Address for reprints: Seth Wright, MD Department of Emergency Medicine Vanderbilt University Medical Center 703 Oxford House Nashville, TN 37232-4700