Improving Hospital Preparedness for Pediatric Abductions

Introduction: In the United States, 840,000 children are reported missing annually. While no concise data is available on the incidence from healthcare facilities, infant and child abductions and elopement events pose a high risk to infants and hospital staff. Following an update on the missing child and missing infant policy at a tertiary care hospital in New York, the hospital’s emergency preparedness team conducted a full-scale hospital drill. The drill included input and participation from administration, nursing, hospital police, and the pediatric department. Method: New updates in the policy which had not been tested before were evaluated during this drill, including plain language verbiage to activate a code, the process of alerting hospital police of the missing pediatric patient, hospital police response, and the response of hospital staff in their work areas. Inpatient pediatric wards, the emergency department, and outpatient clinics were given teaching about the new policy and their responsibilities in the event of a missing child or infant. Evaluators were pre-selected and placed throughout the hospital. Afterward, controllers de-briefed with each of the evaluators as well as with hospital personnel in areas that did not receive teaching on the policy. Results: The areas that did not receive in-person training on the policy update wanted to assist but did not know how to respond and did not follow protocol for securing their areas. Furthermore, areas of the hospital were identified where the overhead paging system did not work as well as gaps in hospital police staffing to cover key hospital exit points. Conclusion: This drill revealed that all hospital personnel need dedicated and personalized training on policy updates highlighting their roles in response, communication lines need to be tested, and plans to address concurrent clinical emergencies need to be formulated.