Smile! You're on Hospital Camera

By DEVIN WEEKS

Staff Writer

Don't forget to smile for the camera during your next visit to the hospital.

Yes, cameras are used in some of our local hospitals.

"Some of our patient rooms do have monitoring systems," said Kootenai Health communications specialist Andrea Nagel. The hospital began using cameras as a safety monitoring system last year, as one of many tools to help prevent patient falls.

Cameras are also in several patient rooms in the emergency department.

Placed in rooms designed for behavioral health patients, the cameras are used to help ensure the safety of the patients and staff caring for them. Although no signs are currently up in the ED to inform patients that they're in use, Nagel said the cameras are visible.

"While the cameras are constantly on, they are only monitored upon special request from a physician or nursing staff for specific patients," she said.

This is a common industry standard in rooms designed for behavioral health patients, Nagel said. Typically, a patient safety attendant is stationed in the room with the patient as well.

She said two of the rooms are explicitly for behavioral health patients and two can be transformed to accommodate other types of patients.

The cameras used to monitor falls are turned off, if a patient or family requests it. The cameras help the hospital's care team detect movements, allowing nurses to quickly respond to a patient's needs, Nagel said. The system is activated and used when there is a high risk of a patient falling.

Kootenai Health currently has 45 monitoring units in areas other than the emergency department. Only about 20 percent of patients opt to use the system, and signs are posted in rooms with the monitoring units accompanied by photos showing how to tell if the unit is recording or not.

The nursing staff is trained to openly communicate about how the monitoring unit works.

"The safety monitoring units are used as a fall reduction strategy," said nursing operations manager Ann Ealy. "When a patient who may have a high fall risk is admitted, their nursing staff will discuss the possibility of using the safety monitoring unit and how it works. The patient and their family can decline to use the service if they choose."

Patients at risk for falling are those who have had a recent fall or a history of falls, those who are on medications that cause drowsiness and dizziness, who are experiencing confusion, impulsiveness, frailty, weakness or who have undergone a medical procedure that limits mobility.

"In general, our patients' families really like the system because they feel their parent, or whoever, is being closely monitored," Nagel said.

The monitoring system is a closed-circuit live stream that is not recorded. A single, specially trained safety technician in a private office watches all activated safety monitoring systems. This tech monitors visually and only uses the audio and two-way communication when necessary, such as when a patient needs to be asked to stay in bed until someone who can help can come to the room.

"We have signage up and our staff are trained to talk about it," Nagel said. "It's no secret."

Northwest Specialty Hospital in Post Falls does not have any cameras in patient rooms but has security cameras in the hallways high in the ceiling.

"That's really for monitoring for a safety perspective," said Chief Nursing Officer Denise Fowler. "If we needed someone monitored closely, we would station probably a nursing assistant at the patient's bedside continuously."

Fowler said she has worked in a couple hospitals in Spokane where cameras are used in the behavioral health setting.

"If the patient is at high risk, they have audio and visual cameras in use," she said.

Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane has cameras in select patient treatment rooms.

"We have policies in place and follow those to comply with federal and state privacy and consent standards," said Elizabeth DeRuyter, communications director for Providence Health Care.