Healthcare facilities face a variety of security threats and vulnerabilities. Birthing hospitals, facilities with maternity wards, and more all have to address infant security and protection with their facilities, processes, and security solutions. You need a system that facilitates rapid detection, assessment, response, and intervention. The right security products, integrated systems, and configurations are key to preventing infant abduction and creating a safe and secure environment. Here are some best practices for preventing infant abduction in healthcare:

1. Restrict and control access to maternity and newborn units.
2. Maintain a single access point for visitors.
3. Establish strict and secure visitation policies.
4. Make it easy to identify authorized staff.
5. Use infant tracking technology.
6. Implement video surveillance on both sides of every entry and exit point.
7. Keep egress points secured.
8. Set up tampering alerts on doors.
9. Create specific protocols and train staff.
10. Include parents in awareness training.
11. Collaborate with local law enforcement.
12. Collaborate with other healthcare facilities.
13. Regularly review and assess security.

1. Restrict and Control Access to Maternity and Newborn Units

Per Joint Commission EC (Environment of Care) standards, hospitals are expected to control access into and out of any “security sensitive” areas. This includes maternity and newborn units. Access to these areas should be controlled and restricted.

Anyone who does not have a legitimate need to be in those areas and who has not been authorized to have access should not be able to access those areas or the infants and family members in them. Access control systems allow facilities to efficiently manage access throughout facilities and campuses.

In addition to being able to customize access levels for different people as well as different areas, you can also authorize temporary or time-limited access, approve or revoke access, track and review access logs, and more. Along with integration with other security systems, these are all important benefits and components of effective hospital access control systems.

2. Maintain a Single Access Point For Visitors

In ideal situations, there would only be one way for visitors to get into and out of a secure unit. Not only does this further assist with monitoring and visitor management while improving visitor flow, but it can also make monitoring and managing the controlled access for visitors easier. Plus, you can better allocate internal resources and staff in those areas as needed, and even set up additional checkpoints to further help reduce risk.

3. Establish Strict and Secure Visitation Policies

In addition to managing visitor access to the unit, establishing strict and secure visitation policies is another best practice for preventing infant abduction in healthcare. The right visitor management protocols and procedures can help increase security overall, prevent unauthorized access, and allow staff to keep track of:

• Who is in the secure areas
• Where they were going in the unit and where they went
• When they entered the unit and when they exited
• Why they were there
• Whether there were red flags or any issues during their visit

Visitation policies may include things like:

• Screening and registering visitors outside of the secure unit.
• Using specific and visible visitor IDs.
• Monitoring and logging visitor movements.
• Keeping specific visitation hours.
• Implementing time limitations on visitation.
• Establishing limits on the number of visitors per patient.
• Limiting visitor access to specific areas within the unit.

4. Make it Easy to Identify Authorized Staff

Restricting and controlling access can go a long way in reducing risks, but there are still ways for unauthorized visitors to get access to restricted units. In some cases, people may tag along or “piggyback” off someone with authorized access and slip into the unit with them.

Adding some extra visuals and measures to quickly identify authorized staff can help cut down on this. Scrubs are not necessarily enough. Color-coded badges aren’t enough on their own, but they can be useful and quick visual identifiers to differentiate between authorized and unauthorized persons.

5. Use Infant Tracking Technology

Infant tracking is an essential element of effective infant protection systems. Generally, this is accomplished through RFID tags that are matched to an infant and real-time locating systems (RTLS) to identify and track the location of specific infants within the unit.

With mother and infant matching tags, mother-infant mismatches are eliminated. Plus, tags are often equipped with tampering alerts to further reduce infant abduction risk and increase overall protection and security. These are all benefits of infant security systems.

Strong identification and verification protocols are essential for infant security. At a minimum, these should include:

• Maintain and update accurate patient records.
• Pair unique ID bands to mothers and infants.
• Implement multi-factor patient identification.
• Use automatic parent-infant matching.
• Layer additional verification methods during infant transfers/transport.

Best practices for preventing infant abduction in hospitals also tend to include access-controlled and alarmed exits that trigger locks and alarms when an infant enters within a certain range. Depending on where the unit is located within the facility, automated alarms and triggers may also lock elevators and/or stairwells. These are ways to use RTLS in healthcare asset management that can help improve infant security as well.

You can also create custom configurations for your unit’s needs. When Baptist Health of Paducah needed to upgrade its infant protection system for its labor and delivery suites, mother-unit, and NICU, its team partnered with NEPPS to include some extra customizations. Strobe flashes, escalating alerts, and some redundant alarms and security measures were implemented specifically for that facility.

6. Implement Video Surveillance on Both Sides of Every Entry and Exit Point

There are various security threats and vulnerabilities of hospitals that are common to most facilities. The right security systems can reduce those risks and close those security gaps. Unauthorized access and entry are related to many of them, including infant abduction.

In addition to a good access control system with the right configurations and integrations, video surveillance is another essential security system. Best practices for preventing infant abduction in healthcare include monitoring both sides of every entry and exit point.

This allows you to monitor specific areas and capture video footage in those areas. Security cameras can also integrate with other security systems to increase protection and effectiveness. Integrating and including video surveillance is one of the ways to enhance the infant protection system in your hospital.

7. Keep Egress Points Secured

Although egress devices tend to be associated with emergency exits, they don’t necessarily have to be only for emergencies. Egress devices, or exit devices, refer to mechanisms that allow exit from a room, enclosed space, building, etc. This applies to any door or door enhancements, and means every entry and exit point to a ward or unit should be considered.

With infant protection systems, it is standard for RFID tags on infants to trigger door locking if they get within a certain range. However, best practices for preventing infant abduction recommend going beyond that and keeping egress points always secured according to code, and not just in these instances.

Access control readers, delayed egress devices, and automated triggers and rules can ensure that doors remain secure at all times while still allowing for egress during an emergency. Evacuation procedures, communication protocols, and more are components of an emergency plan and should be taken into account while implementing measures to prevent infant abduction.

8. Set Up Tampering Alerts on Doors

Having access control and keeping doors secured only works if the doors are not tampered with. If doors are left propped open or jammed so they don’t close or latch properly, unauthorized access can occur. If no alarm sounds or no alert is triggered when doors are forced open, that is also a risk.

Between access control and video surveillance, there are monitoring options and alerts that can be set up for tampering, doors that aren’t closed properly, etc. At the very least, these situations should trigger alerts in real-time to allow security personnel or staff to verify in person or via security cameras that an incident has not occurred and confirm the unit is still secure.

9. Create Specific Protocols and Train Staff

Aside from physical security measures, best practices for preventing infant abduction in healthcare need to include protocols and staff training. In addition to training on protocols, you can also educate and train staff to recognize potential abduction risks.

Staff working in the unit are the eyes and ears of the unit; they should know the warning signs of infant abduction. Knowing the security measures in place and what warning signs to look for can add another layer of security and threat identification to your existing measures.

Increasing security and reducing risks in this way are some reasons why your team needs to be trained on your security systems. Established protocols for identification verification procedures in the unit, security awareness training, consistent reporting mechanisms, and more can help make staff a critical line of defense and reduce risk.

10. Include Parents in Awareness Training

In addition to staff training and protocols, including parents or authorized people in security awareness training around infant abduction can help reduce risks. Not only does this allow further identification and verification for the people who will have access to the mother and infant, but it also educates parents on the risks as well as the protocols they need to follow to help protect their infant.

Some potential things to address with parent education and engagement can include:

• Infant security measures and why they are necessary
• The importance of the ID tag/band
• The warning signs of infant abduction
• The hospital’s visitor policies and procedures
• Who is authorized to visit and when
• How to identify legitimate staff members
• The identification and verification protocols they should perform
• The unit’s routine and what should be happening
• Deviations or discrepancies that would be suspicious
• How to report suspicious activity or concerns

11. Collaborate With Local Law Enforcement

Best practices for preventing infant abduction in healthcare also include preparing for the worst-case scenario. Comprehensive security within your unit and hospital is one thing, but any emergency response plan should include local law enforcement and emergency responders as well.

As you build out and establish prevention and response protocols, collaborate with local law enforcement and emergency responders. They should be informed, aware, and trained on:

• The protocols your healthcare facility has in place
• What alerts they need to be aware of, should they need to respond in an emergency
• What situations they are likely to face if they ever have to respond to an incident

Additionally, local law enforcement will be able to work with your facility to customize protocols and emergency response for what happens outside the unit and facility should an abduction occur, as well as escalation protocols for what happens should the perpetrator get past internal security measures and leave the facility.

12. Collaborate With Other Healthcare Facilities

Preventing infant abduction in healthcare only gets more effective when healthcare facilities collaborate and share information. For local, regional partners and facilities, develop inter-hospital communication and include them in prevention and emergency response protocols.

If any facility identifies a potential threat or has an issue, information and alerts can be shared across this regional network to keep everyone informed and aware. Should there be specific people or things to watch for, each facility can take necessary precautions to increase security in that facility and across facilities overall to prevent an incident.

Outside of regional facilities, healthcare facilities can also share experiences, updates, and information with the healthcare industry as a whole. Trade groups, trade shows, associations, and more can all be platforms to keep hospitals across the country informed and up to date.

Shared insights and lessons learned, especially when including multiple disciplines in healthcare, can enhance and elevate security overall and help hospitals keep up with evolving risks. Additionally, there can also be opportunities for continued professional development to help keep healthcare security professionals and staff up to date and prepared.

13. Regularly Review and Assess Security

Security threats and vulnerabilities are always evolving, security technology and components degrade over time, your facility and operations change and evolve, and more. These are key reasons why you shouldn’t skip vulnerability assessments, and are also why you should be regularly monitoring, reviewing, and assessing your security.

Although an annual vulnerability assessment is still a good idea, it should be in addition to the regular monitoring you’re doing. Incident management software can be a valuable resource for monitoring, tracking, and analyzing incidents. Good analytics and reporting are things to look for in incident management software.

Not only will this allow you to accurately and effectively track incident trends for your facility, but it can also help you identify emerging risks and vulnerabilities that your security solutions need to address. This allows you to close security gaps and get coverage for vulnerabilities before a tragedy occurs. It can also provide insights on where you can make iterative improvements to your processes, whether that’s through innovative automation ideas for your hospital, specific types of training and education, improved protocols, and more.

Upgrade Your Infant Protection With NEPPS

These are some of the best practices for preventing infant abduction in healthcare. Beyond covering the basics and meeting regulations, custom integrations and configurations can create a comprehensive healthcare security solution specific to your facility and operations to better protect your most vulnerable patients.

Every facility will have unique needs and considerations that security solutions will need to address. Partnering with an experienced security systems integrator can ensure your facility has the right security products, systems, configurations, and integrations to seamlessly and effectively provide the security you need.

If you need to install or upgrade an infant protection system, contact NEPPS at 1-800-736-1456. We can help secure and protect your facility, whether it’s a fresh installation in a new facility or ward, or updating and upgrading existing systems.