Hospital security & safety can pose major problems, but it doesn’t have to, Find out how technology can keep your hospital safe and secure.
Hospitals are frantic environments. With patients, staff, visitors and independent contractors moving in and out all the time it can be almost impossible to keep track of them all.
The issue assaults and violence in hospitals is also becoming more prevalent. Research from the New England Journal of Medicine concludes that healthcare workers “often experience physical and verbal attacks, and, all too often, little is done to address it.”
This has caused hospital management to take a keen interest in security and visitor management tools.
With so many options available it’s often difficult to pick the solutions that are right for your hospital. Luckily we’ve put together a list of the best hospital security & safety tools you can use right now:
Automated visitor management
Hospitals deal with hundreds of incoming visitors every day. Keeping track of them can be a headache. Thankfully, a visitor management system may just be the cure.
With the volume of people entering a hospital each day it can be incredibly difficult for reception staff to know exactly who is on the premises. Using multiple
Paper visitor registration systems don’t deal well with issues of confidentiality, either. A paper visitor book displays the names of everyone who has recently signed in openly to anyone looking at it.
You also frequently encounter the problem of legibility with paper visitor books. Without wishing to generalise too much, doctors aren’t exactly famous for having the best handwriting. This can cause confusion for staff and lead to mistakes such as data being processed incorrectly.
Digital visitor management solves all of these issues. Because you can enter of your information using a graphical user interface there is no ambiguity with what has been entered. You can be sure exactly who a person is and when they signed in. The data is also stored confidentially in a cloud database and complies with GDPR.
Storing sign-in data in the cloud is also vital in an emergency. You can quickly access a list of everyone on the premises. This would be almost impossible with a paper visitor book system.
ID badges for employees
By giving every member of staff an ID, you can track of who is accessing certain areas and resources within the hospital.
This is useful in the event of theft, a break in or a breach in protocol. You can get identify everyone who was in a particular location at the exact time the event occurred.
ID badges can reduce the risk of safety and security issues, and help resolve them when they do happen.
Access control technology
Some areas within a hospital require high levels of access restrictions. It’s vital to your hospital’s security & safety that you have a system in place to restrict access to these areas for certain staff.
For example, you may have rooms with highly contagious patients. It is essential that these rooms have an access control system in place. Not doing so can put other people’s health at serious risk.
An access control system can be integrated with your visitor management system. Permissions can then be added to your ID card to grant access to restricted areas of the hospital.
It can be challenging to ensure total safety and security in a hospital with hundreds or even thousands of people coming and going every day. But with the help of technology you can ensure your hospital is a safe environment for everyone.
If you’re looking for a secure way of managing visitors, get in touch with VisiPoint to book a consultation!