Within the absence of a model that's specific to healthcare, you should be looking at other authoritative sources similar to this:



What's important to note is not just the specific material, but the topical scope of the document. This tells you something extremely important all by itself - namely the various aspects of armed security operations that the own policies and procedures should address.

There are some things that you ought to already know without reference to any other source:

1. There has to be a risk assessment. Although not free, this should probably include information from the CAPS index in addition to any relevant information from the police department CA unit concerning the incidence of crime and violent incidents in the immediate neighborhood from the hospital's facilities. There would also, of course, be a overview of the hospital's own historical experience from internal security reports. Preferably, this would cover several years and would be statistically analyzed by kind of incident, etc. If the risk assessment does not support the requirement for armed security staff, there's no need to proceed additional.
2. There must be a selection and training requirement.
3. There has to be a set of relevant polices and procedures that cover the weapons/ammunition which are allowed, the circumstances under which they may be used, and what procedures must be followed if they are used.
4. There must be a legal review of all of the above by hospital counsel or a competent legal consultant, and the hospital's liability carrier should participate the review.

The hospital must understand that even "best practices" through any source, including IAHSS, merely inform the hospital's decision manufacturers. They are not intended to substitute for the hospital's personal decision-making process. Given the wide range of sizes and kinds of hospitals, the wide variety of environments in which they run, the differences in populations they serve and the services they offer, the emergence of stand-alone ancillary facilities such as ambulatory surgical treatment centers and urgent care centers, no "best practices" can do a lot more than provide the framework for decision-making.

One thing worth observing: The Johns Hopkins study on hospital shootings showed that 23% of hospital shootings, and 50% of those in the emergency space, were COMMITTED WITH A SECURITY OFFICER'S WEAPON. This points out the need to ensure that high-retention holsters are part of the equation along with a policy about what state semi-automatic weapons should be carried in. Whether or not so-called "smart" weapons will become the main solution to the loss-of-firearm problem remains to be seen.
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