Body cameras in health care can protect staff and refute false allegations

Police departments have commonly used body cameras to help hold officers accountable. Recently, some hospital systems have employed them among security personnel in emergency departments, personnel at mental health units and more.

A recent study by the International Association for Healthcare Security and Safety (IAHSS) Foundation surveyed 53 hospitals/health care systems employing the cameras (and 57 hospitals not using them). Their responses and the topics covered provide good starting points for potential story ideas for journalists.

The bottom line? Using body cameras can lead to boosted confidence in police officers, enhanced safety of hospital staff, better record-keeping, improved customer service, better training, more professional behavior from hospital and security staff, and better protection against false allegations, said study co-author Scott Hill, Ed.D., executive director of King's Daughters Health System in Ashland, Ky., during a Becker's Hospital Review webinar.

Some 78% of hospitals have used body-worn camera footage to settle disputes in the hospital, and 22% have used camera footage in court, he said. Most hospitals (95.7%) believed the cameras were worth the cost, according to the IAHSS study.

Body camera history

A body-worn camera is a wearable audio, video, and photographic recording system, typically comprising a camera, microphone, and rechargeable battery with data storage capabilities, according to an IAHSS white paper. Some devices offer live streaming and GPS location data.

Law enforcement started using body cameras around 2005, but they have significantly grown in use the past decade. By 2016, about 95% of police departments surveyed in large cities and counties used the cameras, the white paper noted. Proponents of cameras believe they deter violence, decrease the use of excessive force, improve transparency and trust and enhance incident documentation.

Camera use in the private sector has been estimated to increase by more than $1 billion between 2020 and 2025. Some of the health care settings in which they are employed are:

• Security officers and hospital-based law enforcement.
• Emergency medical services.
• Home health visits.
• Nurses in psychiatric/behavioral health units and emergency departments.

Key IAHSS survey findings

Some hospitals reported they used camera footage to discredit complaints of poor, rough behavior by officers, Hill said. All participating hospitals said cameras helped security officers feel more confident in the justifiable use of force or restraints because they felt protected against false accusations. Hospitals using cameras also said they believed cameras had an overall positive impact that made patient care staff feel safer and they were helpful for customer service.

Most hospitals surveyed agreed that body-worn cameras have changed how security and police officers interact with people entering the hospital, like responding more professionally. They also agree that since implementing the cameras, they have kept records of incidents that may previously have gone unrecorded.

"I can remember starting my career off as a security officer, and originally, all we had [were] radios," Hill said. One study participant said they like the cameras because "it gives everyone a true picture of what really happened and who said what," Hill said. "How many of us have done lengthy investigations where we wished we would have had some sort of video."

Increase in reported physical altercations

Reported assaults, disorderly conduct, and use of force all increased after implementing body camera use at some sites, Hill said. That may have resulted from some incidents not being documented previously. Also, hospitals that use more security measures, such as metal detectors and cameras, typically record higher numbers of these types of incidents.

Security officers are more inclined to physically engage with aggressive people earlier in their interactions due to the protection of body-worn cameras, Hill said, and therefore potentially stopping more violent behavior.. Participants using body cameras said while their security or clinical staff initially had concerns about being watched, they quickly lessened after implementation.

Legal liability is one reason hospitals adopt the cameras, Hill said. Participants who used body cameras said that lawsuits were dropped after reviewing video footage and that the cameras protect against false claims.

The top reasons for not using cameras included cost, concerns about patient privacy, legal issues and video storage.

HIPAA compliance

Camera footage is compliant with HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996), Hill noted, provided hospital policies and procedures and how video is handled and released meet HIPAA requirements: "You can share information with others typically for three reasons: treatment, payment or operations.

This would fall for the most part in the operations category."

At Hill's medical system, officers start recording as they respond to an incident and turn it off afterward. Cameras are docked at the end of the day, and footage is encrypted and uploaded to a secure platform; only authorized personnel have access.

Hill and colleagues are working on a new study analyzing body camera use among nurses. In 2022, IAHSS released guidelines for body-worn cameras in health care.

Potential story ideas/angles

• How are hospitals in your area/state using body cameras? What types of outcomes are they tracking?
• How do hospital security officers feel about wearing cameras?
• How do ER directors/health care staff feel about the use of body cameras?
• How have hospitals used footage from body cameras to defend themselves against lawsuits?
• Business of medicine angle: What is the market for body-worn cameras? How are sales of the devices doing?

Resources

• The Impact of Body-Worn Cameras in Hospitals: An In-Depth Study - IAHSS Foundation.
• Body-Worn Cameras in Healthcare - IAHSS Foundation white paper.
• How effective are body cameras in healthcare? - a webinar from Becker's Hospital Review.
• The thorny push to put body cameras on hospital and retail workers - Fast Company.