International. Massachusetts General Hospital is using technology to protect and safeguard the health of the community using 1300 Axis network cameras, which capture images 24 hours a day, in conjunction with the BriefCam Syndex Pro, video analytics integrated into Milestone's XProtect Smart Client software.
To maintain a safe environment, the safety team is constantly challenged by the need for medical equipment for more efficiency, reducing dwell time and moving patients around the hospital as quickly as possible. The scenario presents unique difficulties for security, as the MGH comprises 29 continuous sectors on 14 separate sites. The security teams must protect not only the headquarters, but also 13 facilities in the environment.
With more than a thousand investigation processes a year, the security team at Massachusetts General Hospital could not maintain the large volume of recordings. "The number of investigations we were doing required a large number of videos for analysis, which was being a waste of resources," says Bonnie Michelman, Executive Director of Police, Security and External Services, and Consultant for Health Partners at the hospital.
"We couldn't cover all those facilities with security personnel. We needed to evolve into exceptional technology, which would allow us to combine our intelligence, work, policies and procedures, with the aim of creating a better holistic approach to corporate risk management," he says.
With the migration of the hospital to digital video surveillance, the security team was able to expand the coverage of cameras from 400 to 1300 IP equipment from Axis Communications, connected directly to the network.
To deal with the increased data, MGH chose the Syndex Pro BriefCam, which offers tools that reduce the time and effort required to perform image analyses after events that require real-time research and monitoring. The solution intuitively integrates the Milestone video management system, promoting workflow efficiency for security agents.
The evaluation after two years of use of digital video surveillance at MGH showed a progressive increase in the success of video in incident investigations. "Before, maybe there were things we would have liked to have done, but we didn't make it because we didn't have the resources to view many hours of video. We can now manage content and identify trends, which can guide the redistribution of resources and, by extension, facilitate more focused and successful research," says Michelman.
