How AI Helps Hospitals Improve Safety and Security

AI-based video analysis tools are transforming risk detection for public spaces and services, and healthcare is no exception. Here are three ways hospitals can use these capabilities to enhance security, improve patient safety, and streamline operations. 

1. Spot security risks sooner

From drug storage areas, pharmacies and on-site labs to staff car parks, patient rooms, and secure units, hospitals always have a variety of restricted-access zones that need close monitoring.

AI-based intrusion detection tools make this much easier for security teams, especially those that identify and classify people or ground vehicles accessing restricted areas. They ensure security personnel are immediately alerted to suspected violations and have valuable information at their fingertips so they can take appropriate action.

Even where regular comings and goings by people and vehicles are ‘business as usual’ – across the hospital estate, such as outside a busy A&E, ambulance bays, or staff entrances and exits – security doesn’t have to suffer. Loitering detection tools, for example, can flag suspicious behaviour based on lingering for lengths of time outside the norm.

2. Flag patient falls faster

250,000 falls are reported annually by acute and community hospitals in England and Wales¹. It’s an ongoing challenge for healthcare staff who are already under pressure. Even the most dedicated teams can’t be everywhere at once. Thankfully, AI can. 

AI-based fall detection tools are an extension of healthcare professionals’ eyes, scanning each frame of video footage and generating alerts whenever a motion of a trip, slip, or fall is detected. When combined with workflows and mobile solutions, these alerts can be programmed to send details to the devices of relevant staff members to provide rapid patient support. 

This is ideal for busy communal areas such as A&E waiting rooms. If a fall is detected, fall detection tools only display camera feeds to surveillance teams. This means operators don’t have to have a continuous ‘eye on’. Therefore, they also present a viable option for monitoring private patient areas, ensuring safety and privacy. 

Monitor patient parking and emergency access  

AI-powered video analysis tools can significantly enhance the management of hospital parking and emergency access areas. These tools can deliver important benefits by detecting, counting, classifying, and tracking vehicle movements.

They can alert operators whenever vehicles are in the wrong place or present at the wrong time. Alerts can also be generated by vehicles of the wrong type, for instance, ensuring operators know if anything other than an ambulance is using restricted areas reserved for medical emergencies. Similarly, AI can be used to detect parking that could impede access.

Hospitals can also use dedicated traffic counting tools to monitor incoming and outgoing traffic for a specific zone. This is useful for alerting operators to parking capacity levels in real time, for instance, to ensure the timely opening of overflow parking. Insights from such tools can also help inform future capacity planning.

¹  https://www.e-lfh.org.uk/programmes/preventing-falls-in-hospital-fallsafe-carefall/#:~:text=Falls%20are%20by%20far%20the,of%20inpatient%20falls%20in%20hospitals