Campus Safety Survey Reveals What Hospital Security Professionals Plan on Spending in 2018

Campus Safety survey ranks the most common hospital security system upgrades and new security purchasing plans professionals say they’re ready for in 2018.

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Campus Safety Survey Reveals What Hospital Security Professionals Plan on Spending in 2018
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According to a yearly Hospital Security Survey from our sister publication Campus Safety, hospital security professionals already have big plans for their buildings in 2018.

Campus Safety had previously used last year’s survey results provide insights on healthcare budget, crime and staffing levels. They also ranked the 15 most common types of hospital security officer training.

Now, they examine 2018 security purchasing plans, ranking the 20 types of security equipment and systems hospital officials say they’re most likely to invest in during the upcoming year.

In some cases, the timing of these security upgrades may be driven by new budgets (42 percent of our respondents expect their budgets to grow in 2018).

In others, they’re the result of many months of work explaining to hospital executives the importance of bolstering specific aspects of a facility’s security efforts.

hospital security, security purchasing

The plans also may be a reaction to a specific incident that demonstrated a vulnerability.

Regardless of the reasoning behind the security purchasing plans, this data is valuable for integrators hoping to secure more contracts and help their clients manage real risk mitigation concerns.

2017 Purchases for Context

Before checking out the 2018 hospital security equipment rankings, it could be useful to review the percentage of hospitals who have purchased certain security equipment so far in 2017.

This obviously affects whether or not a hospital is planning on purchasing related equipment or systems going forward.

Below is the ranking of security systems that hospital officials say their institution purchased or is purchasing in 2017.

  1. Video surveillance (81 percent of respondents’ institutions purchased this equipment in 2017)
  2. Physical access control/key management (60 percent)
  3. Emergency communication/two way radios (53 percent)
  4. ID badging/visitor management (47 percent)
  5. Patrol vehicles (cars, bicycles and other modes of transportation) (36 percent)
  6. Less-lethal weapons (25 percent)
  7. Mass notification/emergency notification (23 percent)
  8. Laptops, PDAs and other mobile computer equipment (23 percent)
  9. Parking management/traffic control equipment and systems (21 percent)
  10. Infant abduction prevention solutions (20 percent)
  11. Contract guard services (19 percent) 
  12. Fire alarms, sprinklers, carbon monoxide detection (18 percent)
  13. IT infrastructure (18 percent)
  14. Dispatch systems and software (18 percent)
  15. Electronic security systems integration services (18 percent)
  16. Emergency lighting (18 percent)
  17. Call boxes (15 percent)
  18. Gates, turnstiles, bollards and barriers (15 percent)\

Read next: What Security Directors Wish AV Integrators Knew

Surprisingly, there’s a good amount of consistency between hospital officials’ 2017 security purchases and their 2018 plans.

This might suggest these systems are being installed in phases, or that the overall installation process can span multiple years.

View the 2018 results here.

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