Hospital Response to the Active Shooter/Active Assailant

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Course Overview

Hospitals face unique challenges during active assailant incidents that are rarely addressed in traditional active assailant training. Unlike most workplaces, hospitals cannot simply evacuate or shelter in place. Staff must make immediate decisions involving critically ill patients, operating rooms, intensive care units, behavioral health units, locked departments, neonatal units, and patients who cannot protect themselves or be rapidly moved.

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Hospital workplace violence has reached unprecedented levels, with hundreds of thousands of healthcare workers assaulted each year in the United States. In addition, hospitals continue to experience active assailant attacks involving patients, family members, disgruntled employees, prisoner escapes, gang violence, domestic violence, and targeted attacks against healthcare providers.

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Why Hospitals Are Different

Research and after-action reviews have identified numerous shortcomings in hospital active assailant preparedness. Staff frequently report uncertainty regarding lockdown procedures, evacuation options, patient movement, emergency notifications, and individual responsibilities during an attack. Hospital police, security personnel, and administrators must also understand the significant operational and staffing challenges associated with searching, securing, and maintaining operations within large healthcare facilities.

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Traditional public guidance such as "Run, Hide, Fight" often requires significant modification within healthcare environments where patient care responsibilities limit available options. This course examines those differences and provides practical recommendations designed specifically for hospitals and healthcare systems.

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Course Content

Participants will examine the history of hospital active assailant incidents, hospital workplace violence trends, offender motivations, prevention strategies, and response considerations unique to healthcare. The course reviews common misconceptions surrounding active assailant response, conflicts found in many hospital policies, and practical methods to improve preparedness before an incident occurs.

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The presentation also reviews published research examining hospital safety and security programs. Topics include behavioral threat assessment and management, workplace violence prevention, internal reporting systems, emergency notification procedures, lockdown capabilities, staff training effectiveness, and the use of plain language versus coded emergency notifications.

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Lessons Learned

The course examines multiple hospital active assailant incidents and identifies lessons learned for hospital administrators, security personnel, clinicians, and public safety agencies. Particular emphasis is placed on receiving hospitals following community active assailant incidents, where overwhelming numbers of patients frequently self-transport before formal casualty distribution can be established.

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Participants will review case studies, including the response to the Route 91 Harvest Festival shooting in Las Vegas, where Sunrise Hospital received more than 200 gunshot patients in less than 30 minutes. These lessons help hospitals better understand surge capacity, emergency department operations, security, patient tracking, and coordination with public safety partners.

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Why Threat Suppression

Threat Suppression personnel are internationally recognized for their research and operational experience involving active assailant preparedness. Our staff have conducted more than 50,000 hours of research related to active assailant incidents and targeted violence. One of our personnel authored the world's first doctoral dissertation focused on integrated public safety response to active assailant incidents.

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Our personnel have provided training and consulting for major healthcare systems, the Emergency Nurses Association, the American College of Emergency Physicians, the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses, and numerous hospitals throughout the United States. We have also provided active assailant training and consulting for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Department of Justice, Department of Defense, Department of Education, and other federal agencies.

 

Intended Audience

This course is designed for hospital administrators, healthcare executives, hospital security and police, emergency managers, clinicians, public safety personnel, military law enforcement, and government officials responsible for hospital preparedness and emergency response. Because of the sensitive nature of the material, this course is not available to the general public.

 

Course Materials and Scheduling

To download a detailed course description, please click the PDF below. This course is available as either an in-person presentation or a live webinar. If you would like more information on booking this course, please email info@ThreatSuppression.com, or call 1-800-231-9106.