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 Researchers surveyed 1,017 members of the public and 684 health
professionals. Overall, 18 percent of the public and 33 percent of
health professionals said they thought the odds of a shooter in a
hospital were high or very high.
In the surveys, conducted in March, both groups - members of the
public and health professionals - identified hospitals as lower-risk
venues than other places like shopping centers, airports or schools.
“The public’s belief that hospitals are at lower risk might be
grounded in the perception of hospitals as sanctuaries of caring and
healing,” study co-authors Dr. Lenworth Jacobs and Karyl Burns of
Hartford Hospital in Connecticut write in the Journal of the
American College of Surgeons.
“Although the risk of such events might be low, hospitals can be
attractive targets because of the presence of pharmaceuticals,
narcotics, radioactive materials, sensitive information and
controversial research activities,” Lenworth and Burns write.
Slightly more than 60 percent of the public and health workers
thought doctors and nurses had a special duty to protect patients,
similar to the obligations of first responders like firefighters or
police, the study found.
Thirty-nine percent of the public and 27 percent of health
professionals thought doctors and nurses should take on a high
degree of personal risk to help patients in an active shooter
situation.
Health workers were more apt to take on a high degree of personal
risk for the most vulnerable patients. For example, 45 percent of
health professionals thought they should intervene even in the face
of high personal risk to protect patients in the operating room, and
36 percent thought this should apply to patients in intensive care
units. However, just 22 percent of health workers believed they had
this obligation for patients who are ambulatory, and potentially
more able to flee the scene or protect themselves.
Seventy-six percent of the public and 92 percent of health
professionals thought doctors and nurses should have a personal
choice about whether to try to save patients’ lives in an active
shooter situation.
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“If we are asking healthcare providers to enter an active shooter
scene . . . while the shooting is still going on, I would not expect
a healthcare provider to try to deal with that until the assailant
is either gone or otherwise dealt with,” said Dr. Peter Pons of
Denver Health Medical Center and the University of Colorado School
of Medicine.
“I do think, however, that when there is an active shooter situation
in a hospital, staff should do what they can to ensure that patients
in areas not involved in the shooting scene are appropriately
protected and managed, whether that includes sheltering and
barricading in place or evacuating,” Pons, who wasn’t involved in
the study, said by email.
Gunshot wounds can cause severe bleeding, damage to organs and
tissues, and infections, with worse complications the longer victims
wait for treatment.
The new survey findings come amid a push by doctors and emergency
responders to reduce deaths in mass shootings and disasters by
teaching strangers and bystanders to step in and control victims’
bleeding before emergency medical service (EMS) workers arrive.
Even without formal training, people can help a bleeding patient by
calling 911, getting a first aid kit or applying direct pressure
over the wound, said Jonathan Epstein, senior director of science
and content development for the American Red Cross.
“Severe bleeding can be a life-threatening condition,” Epstein, who
wasn’t involved in the study, said by email. “It can lead to
significant injury or death in a matter of a few minutes.”
The Red Cross offers a free first aid app here: http://rdcrss.org/2eMgk9c
and information on first aid classes here: http://rdcrss.org/2eLUDGd.
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/2eLCAzU Journal of the American College of
Surgeons, online August 14, 2017.
[© 2017 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2017 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
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