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Access Control Systems A Growing Issue for Healthcare Facility Managers IAHSS President Speaks On How Industry Will Respond To New Technology Reprinted with permission from IAHSS website (http://www.iahss.org/) With gun-related tragedies becoming an ever-increasing issue in the U.S., many healthcare facility managers are expanding their security protocols. Tightening vendor surveillance and visitor access continues to grow as a trend. This effort to ensure the safety of healthcare professionals, patients and their visitors has been met by new technology, specifically the integration of the latest hardware such as advanced security cameras, biometrics and fingerprint readers.
surveillance is difficult to achieve. Pryse put emphasis on areas like loading docks where hazardous materials are most accessible.
Compliance with regulations put forth by the Joint Commission and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention tend to be primary drivers of hospital management angst, especially in the areas of vendor and supply chain management. This is where newer hardware technology specialized for identifying people (cameras, biometrics, fingerprint readers, etc.) will come into play as lower tech methods become insufficient.
According to the 2013 Hospital Vendor & Visitor Access Control Survey, more than 500 organizations have a vendor management system to screen, badge and track every vendor. Although advanced vendor management systems have long become the standard in other industries, such systems have only begun to go online in healthcare facilities over the past few years, explained Pryse. With robust computerized data systems and identification technology at their fingertips, safety managers grow more capable when facing emergencies.
International Association of Healthcare Security and Safety [IAHSS] President Lisa Pryse, CHPA, CPP, agrees, and expressed recently to a leading industry magazine that more video surveillance is good for facility safety, especially where human
The balance between maintaining a safe facility and creating a welcoming environment for patient and their visitors is hard to accomplish but new technology may present the most promising solutions in 2014.
About IAHSS The International Association for Healthcare Security and Safety (IAHSS) is the only organization solely dedicated to professionals involved in managing and directing security and safety programs in healthcare institutions. With over 2,000 members worldwide, IAHSS provides members with a useful network of professional peers who share their commitment to security and safety.
14 | The Sentinel - January, 2014