THE SURGEONS' Lounge
ACTIVE SHOOTER SITUATION
How Would You Respond to an Armed Intruder?
We'd just finished a bomb threat drill when one of my staff asked a good question: How would we handle a shooting situation? Our center didn't have a policy or emergency plan for such an event, but in light of the recent rash of armed intruders harming and killing innocent people in public places, we decided we needed one.
Plus, our surgery center specializes in spine and pain procedures. We see a lot of pain patients, most of whom are repeat patients. The nature of our business and the types of drugs we keep on hand made us feel that we may be more vulnerable to an armed attack than most surgical facilities. Then there's the nature of the economy. With higher deductible plans forcing patients to pay upfront, it's no secret that surgical facilities collect cash from patients. Here's what we did.
• Create a policy. You'll find useful information for creating your policy at the Department of Homeland Security website
(www.dhs.gov/active-shooter-preparedness).
• Meet with your local police department. My management team and I asked our local police department to tour our center and meet with us. The officers gave us great tips for our exit strategies, our "safe haven" areas and how to better secure different areas of our facility. They reminded us that armed intruders do not always attack with guns; they can also show up with knives, baseball bats and other harmful objects. The officers suggested we watch a 6-minute YouTube video called "RUN HIDE FIGHT Surviving an Active Shooter" (tinyurl.com/ndrfc97), in which actors role-play a shooting in an office building setting.
• Put together a drill. We then sat down and began to put together an annual plan/drill that would work best for our facility. Our drill consist-
