A German hospital announced plans to issue bodycams to all its employees, after a rise in violent attacks on staff by patients and their relatives.
The small cameras, which employees would wear as part of their uniform, can help to “de-escalate” conflicts, said Michael Kötzing, from Klinikum Dortmund in North Rhine Westphalia
“We want to see whether bodycams have the same effect in the hospital as they do for the police”, Kötzing continued.
German hospital workers across the board have seen a sharp rise in violent attacks in recent years.
73 per cent of all clinics said the number of violent incidents against hospital employees had risen over the last five years.
In a recent survey by the Association of German Hospitals (DGK), the majority of respondents said a “loss of respect for hospital staff” was behind the trend.
In September 2024, an attack on medical staff at a hospital in Essen in North Rhine Westphalia attracted national news.
After a relative died in the emergency room of the Elisabeth Clinic, members of a Turkish-Lebanese family began hitting and kicking clinic employees.
A 23 year-old woman was gravely injured, with five other employees sustaining light injuries.
Some of the aggressors were apprehended by police but were later released.
The incident marked a “turning point”, said Peter Berlin, manager of the Elisabeth Clinic.
“Here we observed an unseen level of aggression and violence towards our staff,” he said.
Souad Layas, deputy medical director of the hospital in Dortmund, told local media employees at his hospital had been hit as well as bitten.
The hospital employees in the Dortmund clinic will be able to decide themselves whether they want to wear the bodycams.
However, hospital staff will only be allowed to activate the body cameras in case of an altercation, due to data protection concerns.
https://brusselssignal.eu/2025/01/german-hospital-introduces-employee-bodycams-after-rising-violence