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5 security tips for making hospital visitor management more effective

by Noel Turner

The hospitals we work with typically want to badge all visitors that come through their main lobby. This might seem like an overwhelming task, but you can successfully process visitors efficiently by considering the ideas below. See our five security tips for making hospital visitor management more effective.

1. An electronic visitor management system (VMS) allows your hospital to vet everyone that comes through the door by checking driver’s licenses or state IDs. Many software systems can check each person within 2-4 seconds. This means added security without a long line of people waiting to be checked in.
2. Your hospital can offer a combination of desktop software and kiosk stations, which allow a visitor badge to be printed and distributed by front desk personnel. In a busy hospital, having both of these options in the lobby helps to avoid lines. Visitors comfortable with signing themselves in can choose the kiosk station, while other visitors can have hospital staff log them in.
3. Some enterprise visitor software programs connect to a hospital’s electronic medical records (EMR). However, not all hospitals want that. They find it’s better to keep visitor data separate from patient data, for confidentiality. The main goal of the VMS is to process and badge every visitor and be able to tell who was in the facility at any given time. 
4. Some hospitals use a combination of visitor software and handwritten visitor sign-in books. Both work effectively, depending on where they are implemented. High-traffic departments, such as Maternity, ICU, and the Emergency Room, may use an electronic visitor management system. Other areas, such as the Outpatient Department, may only require a confidential manual sign-in process. 
5. Your visitor badges can be customized and color-coded to make visitor identification more efficient. Color-code the visitor badges by department or floor, creating a visual identifier from a distance that someone either belongs where they are or doesn’t. Color-code the visitor badges by day of the week, so Monday’s badge with a blue border can’t be used on Tuesday because that day has a different color. Or color-code by kinds of visitor, so a contractor, not a volunteer, may access the boiler room.

What other ways can hospitals make their visitor management process more efficient? Please join the conversation and add your thoughts in the “Comments” section below.

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Posted on 2/15/2019