Tasers at Hospitals

                     Use of TASERS at Hospitals

The environment of a hospital is never 100 percent peaceful all the time. Acts of violence do occur against physicians, staff and nurses. In such cases where systematic approaches to control violence do not work, other efficient means of elevated force are employed to control violent behaviour.

It is effective and less lethal than a firearm. According to taser international, 151 hospitals in the U.S are using or testing tasers. Each hospital has its own guidelines for the use of tasers. The only key issue is the risk of injuries. 

William P. Bozeman of Wake Forest University, says receiving a Taser shot is painful “but as soon as the Taser stops sending out electricity, the pain is over and you’re fully functional again in a matter of moments.”  A study published in 2009 of 1201 people , 99.75 percent of study subjects did not experience significant injuries following a TASER deployment.

The top priority is to protect patients, visitors and employees. Therefore only highly trained officers are allowed to carry tasers.

 The hospital will need a security member to become a certified TASER instructor. 

The process for becoming an instructor includes taking an online training course prior to a two-day/16-hour class. This course covers the safe operation of electronic control devices via a lengthy PowerPoint presentation, which includes videos, practical firings and hands on use, scenario-based deployments and a written test. The instructor certification is valid for two years.

Hospital security command staff will need to formulate best practices, policies and training procedures, based on the input of the trained TASER instructor. 

While use of force policies must meet hospital guidelines, in many cases, these policies are also based on community standards and the varying levels of the types of responses available to the security department.

In addition to standard training, specialized training in handling sensitive patient situations may be considered to ensure that when force is necessary, all means to handle the situation have been utilized.

Therefore,depending on the situation the officers can determine the appropriate tool starting from taking to the  individual.  Public safety officers will use TASERs only as the last resort and only in situations where someone was at significant risk of hurting themselves or others around them."