Safety and security is an integral part of health care facilities. Keeping your patients and staff safe while enabling an efficient and convenient environment is no small task. To assist you in this endeavor, we have compiled the top three solutions to consider.
Access control solutions give you total control and visibility over your health care facility. Access control …
- Helps you control who is allowed to go where and when. This enables you to restrict access to certain sensitive areas, like labs, ORs, pharmacies and such.
- Credentials are difficult to duplicate, unlike keys, which increases your security exponentially.
- Can protect your organization’s assets with real-time control.
- Are customizable, allowing you to give your employees multi-location access with the ease and flexibility of a single token.
- Helps simplify the process of employee shift changes and turnovers. Health Care facilities generally have several employee schedules and shifts; integrated access systems can help you manage those changes cost-effectively with minimal administration.
- Enables searching each opening’s history of entry with ease, giving you the ability to track who accessed which area at what time.
What is right for you?
These systems are an investment. Below are a few questions that will help you have all the information on hand to make the best decision for your health care facility safety and security needs.
- How many openings do you want the access control system to manage?
- Do you want to be able to monitor door openings, and whether they are open or closed?
- Do you need the system to be used on multiple facilities?
- What type of access credential do you want to use?
- Do you want an online or offline system?
- Online systems: Managed from a computer from anywhere. Generally, more expensive to install, online systems are less costly to manage over time. They enable real-time capabilities.
- Offline system: Managed at the lockset/controller. Easier to install, but more difficult to manage. May not have real-time capabilities.
Automatic door operators are key to helping your caregivers and patients move efficiently through the facility when seconds matter. Automatic door operators give you…
- Convenience. Automatic doors make people feel welcome, making their health care visits easier and more manageable, particularly those with accessibility challenges.
- Sanitary benefits. Touch-less actuators allow you to open doors seamlessly by using common motions instead of physical contact. This provides your staff a clean, easy and efficient way of moving patients within your health care facility.
- Improved public perception. Automatic doors create a perception that your facility is state-of-the-art, easily accessible and caring. This subconsciously gives patients, employees and visitors confidence in the quality of service you provide in other areas.
- Ease of Use and Maintenance. With proper installation and a little bit of regular maintenance, daily operation should be trouble-free and easy.
- A Strong Cost-Benefit Relationship. Automatic doors are surprisingly economical. Be sure to factor in product lifespan and energy savings when you’re crunching the numbers.
- Energy Savings. Automatic doors don’t need to cost you big when it comes to energy costs. Because they open only when needed and close completely every time, they reduce wasted energy and significantly lower annual heating and cooling costs.
- Safety. When properly installed and regularly inspected, automatic doors provide consistently safe access to your property.
- ADA Compliance. The Americans with Disabilities Act may require your business to install an automatic door to achieve ADA compliance. Automatic doors provide safe, convenient access for everyone, regardless of age or ability.
What is right for you?
When choosing automatic doors, the biggest considerations are your environment and needs.
- Do you want the operators to be active on both sides, or does traffic only flow in one direction?
- How do you want the operator to be activated? Portable pendant button (think garage door opener), push-button actuator, motion sensor or touch-less actuator?
- Will you have access control working in conjunction with the operators?
- Are there areas in your facility with positive pressure that may interfere with the operator opening or closing force?
- Where is the best place to install automatic door actuators, based on traffic patterns and code compliance?
- High traffic: High-energy doors are ideal in high traffic areas or in areas you need to overcome air pressure, such as exterior openings or pressurized treatment areas. High-energy doors open and close fast, reducing the amount of air pressure loss and reducing energy waste. These operators are also used in conjunction with safety sensors that ensure they do not close if a person/obstacle is in the opening.
- Low Traffic: If you are planning to install automatic doors in a low-traffic area or areas where the operator will be used infrequently, you should go with a low-energy automatic operator. Low-energy operators are slow to open and close therefore reduce the risk of accidents without the need for extra sensors.
Video surveillance doesn’t just help after a situation has already happened. Visible cameras can prove to be a deterrent preventing situations from happening at all. Video Surveillance can…
- Prevent and Reduce Theft. When security cameras are placed appropriately (and visibly), they can help prevent crimes such as vandalism and theft as well as break-ins.
- Offer Real-Time Monitoring. Commercial video surveillance allows you to monitor critical areas continuously from a computer, mobile phone or tablet – anywhere, anytime. It’s even possible to have multiple sites communicating on the same network, so views from different cameras are accessible through the internet.
- Provide Evidence and Resolve Disputes More Quickly. Know what really happened if a crime or dispute does occur in your health care facility. A surveillance camera can provide the police or just your HR department with a clear video of the entire incident. Having such a video can help provide a quick resolution, reduce workplace violence and save you time and money.
- Maintain Digital Storage. An IP camera system will allow you to store all the recorded footage digitally using an NVR, hard drive or network server. Find footage anytime you want.
- Help Patients Feel Safer. Surveillance cameras help those in your facility feel safe. They know you are careful about their security and will support them in case of an emergency.
What is right for you?
Video surveillance is an investment, and different facilities have different needs and budgets. There is no one-size-fits-all solution. Get together with your trusted and certified consultant to discuss a few questions and create a plan customized for your health care facility safety and security needs.
- Do you want to be able to access your surveillance system away from the facility? Is access via phone important to you?
- How many cameras are you installing now? How many do you plan to have in the future?
- How many days of recording do you want to store?
- How many users will have access?
Any system you install is only as good as its maintenance. Access control systems, automatic door operators and video surveillance are generally easier on maintenance; most of the work is done while the systems are being installed. However, each works best with a small amount of regular maintenance.
Access Control: Since the systems are software-based, always make sure your system is up-to-date with the latest software. Access systems are also dependent on the door’s mechanical components to operate effectively. So, maintaining the door closer (ensuring it is properly adjusted to latch the door) is required to enable proper security.
Automatic Door Operators: Make sure to keep the air pressure in the building in check. Performing annual maintenance by a certified professional is key, to ensure it is lubricated and functioning properly.
Video Surveillance: Have certified professional or your IT team maintain video surveillance, as it ties into your own network.
Do you want to talk to our expert safety and security consultants? Contact us and one of our team members will reach out to you shortly!
More health care safety and security tips: 3 Things to Consider Before Updating Hospital Security Infrastructures
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That’s a good point that it would be important to have monitoring in a health care facility. That way you could do things like identify criminals, as well as keep an eye on patients that may be at risk and need immediate attention. I feel like getting things like security cameras for a hospital would be a good way to help make sure everyone there stays safe.
Absolutely! Glad you found this helpful.
It’s fascinating to learn more about health care security. My husband wants to open a clinic. He should look into door access control.
We’re glad you found this helpful. Let us know how we can help you with your project.