Why a Hospital Visitor Management System Is a Vital Part of the Healthcare Experience

Families entrust your medical facility with the care of their loved ones, and part of that is balancing security and accessibility to create a welcoming and safe environment. Get that balance right, and you can reduce the stress that goes with being at a hospital or clinic. Get it wrong, and it can become more challenging to manage anxious family members or friends.

A visitor management system exists to strengthen safety for patients, visitors, employees, contractors and others. It accomplishes this by tracking and controlling who has access to specific areas of your hospital and by identifying potential risks and issues early so that you can manage them.

Good visitor management has a subtle but significant impact on how visitors feel when they interact with your medical facility. For example:

• A family member getting delayed at the front desk each time they visit will cause frustration, reduce the amount of time they get to spend with their loved one and has the potential to bring anxiety to the patient
• Ineffective or poorly implemented security processes and checkpoints can make it harder for someone to move around your hospital or clinic legitimately

In addition, hospital staff feels more secure knowing each visitor is vetted and recorded before entering the facility. With hospital workplace violence starting to rise and reducing infectious risks being of serious concern, it’s an unfortunate reality that simply being at work is a risk factor for many hospital staff. An additional benefit of using an automated visitor management system is that it streamlines manual, repetitive tasks for staff, making their daily jobs much easier to complete. Overall job satisfaction improves since the staff feels empowered to work more efficiently with an improved sense of safety. As a result, staff can focus more on patient care.

How Visitor Access Management to Healthcare Facilities Impacts the Reputation Equation

Your hospital relies on several areas coming together to create an excellent reputation, including:

• Advanced diagnostic machines that can quickly identify potential problems
• Well-equipped facilities with all the equipment needed to provide good healthcare
• Exceptional staff, from doctors and nurses to auxiliary and support workers
• Access to the latest, proven techniques and specialist treatments

Patients and their families probably won’t have a point-of-reference for understanding everything that goes into providing excellent medical care; what they will remember is how they have been treated at your facility. When a patient or visitor experiences thoughtful caregiving in a safe and secure environment, it provides reassurance. The strength of your security combines with the other aspects of your reputation to create the best possible impression of your organization. The good reputation of your facility can be overturned by one negative experience.

 

The HID SAFE™ Approach to Healthcare Visitor Management

HID SAFE Visitor Management is built around principles of:

• Centralized badging and credentialing with an unobtrusive and sensitive approach
• Integration with other hospital systems, for customizable operations
• Bespoke security policies that balance safety and accessibility
• Real-time technology that can monitor and identify risks and help you to manage them

This approach offers several significant advantages to medical facilities.

Safer Premises

HID SAFE’s centralized administration of the access management process means that your security team has a comprehensive and unified view of the entire physical operation. This prevents unwarranted visitors from accessing your campus.

Enhanced Operational Efficiencies

Automation replaces manual tasks, reducing delays and eliminating human errors. HID SAFE approves identity access requests quickly, meaning better, more streamlined processes.

Positive Impact on Patient and Visitor Experience

HID SAFE allows patients and families to create personalized visitation lists and policies, so visitor information is readily available to front desk personnel in advance. This reduces the time needed for visitor check in and badge issuance.

Superior HIPAA Compliance

HID SAFE’s policy-based system provides medical facilities with effective, audit-ready and automated compliance with federal laws, regulations, standards, and governance.

Learn more about the key factors that build an intelligent security system to protect patients, visitors and employees. Download our white paper.

Ready to speak with an expert on how you can implement an intelligent approach to hospital visitor management? Request a demo now.

Janette Andler is Director of Vertical Market Development in IAM Solutions. In this role, she works with healthcare organizations across North America to help solve their physical identity and access management challenges. Based in Dallas, Janette has been a member of the security industry for over 12 years.