A tough and long battle against COVID-19 remains the case with the arrival of the Omicron variant in Australia. This emergence could further overwhelm the already pressured healthcare system after the combat with the Delta variant.
Hence having a well-rounded visitor management system in hospitals is important in reducing administrative tasks, streamlining contact tracing process, and providing a better visitor experience.
What is a visitor management system?
A visitor management system serves to identify and track the various stakeholders entering your organisation’s premise. It is similar to that of contact tracing but with more functions. You can tailor such a system to suit your organisation’s needs with additional features such as welcoming visitors, collecting their feedback and tracking the usage of facilities.
This goes to show that beyond the primary functions of data collection, having a visitor management system would allow your organisation to have greater insights on your customers’ experience.
You may then leverage on such information to further enhance the customer experience and build a stronger relationship with them. Therefore, selecting a suitable visitor management system that matches your organisation could aid your company in achieving greater progress.
Visitor management system in hospitals
The fundamental purpose of a hospital is to provide an avenue for patients to seek medical consultation. This also implies hospitals are more prone to virus infection, and especially so during such a critical and sensitive period. Since hospitals are the main battle ground in the combat against COVID-19, it is important to manage visitors.
Through the adoption of a visitor management system in hospitals, it allows hospitals to ensure the safety of their staff personnels and take preventive measures in accordance with the restrictions imposed by the government.
In the following paragraphs, we will cover some areas on how having a visitor management system in hospitals could provide greater convenience for hospitals and visitors alike.
Visitor management system in hospitals help streamline visiting processes
Everyday, there is a massive number of incoming and outgoing visitors. Hence, it means hospitals need to record a large amount of foot traffic. In order to ensure a smooth and brief registration process, hospitals can adopt a more efficient visitor management system.
By investing in a visitor management system, hospitals can now streamline their visitor’s registration process.
The typical sign-in procedure usually involves visitors noting down their information on a piece of paper, or having an administrative staff request for their details before typing it down. But such a method requires a considerable amount of time. Not to mention there would be greater physical interactions which increases the probability of a virus transmission.
In contrast, having a visitor management system in hospitals would speed up such processes through digitalisation. Through the system, visitors can now input their details in digital form reflective of their health conditions.
The process of obtaining consent for data collection is also easier with the implementation of such a system. Along with some pre-settings and guidance from staff members, it could drastically reduce the sign-in time.
Through a visitor management system, making changes and updating the registration form is now more achievable. Given the guidelines are constantly changing and hospitals have stricter restrictions, it is important to ensure visitors understand the directives. Furthermore, the usage of a visitor management system would ensure uniformity across the information that was relayed to visitors.
Easier data management
It is a daunting task to manage data. This is especially so as hospitals have to process insurmountable volumes of information each day. Depending on the system used, data management can either be very complicated or simple.
With the ability to capture information, having a visitor management system in hospitals grants hospitals the capability to have a clear record of the visitors entering and leaving the hospital’s ground. When such data is processed and analysed, hospitals can visually interpret information such as:
- Average duration of a visitor’s stay
- What are the trends and patterns of a visitor during their visit
- When are the hospital’s peak period
- When and where should the hospital dedicate more manpower to during the day
The knowledge gleaned by effectively managing data provides hospitals with a better understanding of the ground operations and delegates resources wisely.
Apart from analysing the information collected, data retrieval is also a key aspect in a hospital’s data management. With a data retrieval function, a visitor management system in hospitals can shorten this process. Coupled with real-time data collection, the hospital administrator can retrieve the most updated and accurate information.
Moreover, having a swift data retrieval process implies hospitals are able to make a decision promptly and take action speedily.
When a visitor was identified to be the carrier of a virus, hospitals can retrieve visitors’ information easily through the visitor management system. Hospitals can then take appropriate actions to contain the spread of the virus promptly.
Enhanced security
The application of a visitor management system in hospitals could heighten security in two areas – human security and data security.
Human security
Many have the perception that having a surveillance system is sufficient in securing the safety of their people. Yet when circumstances require the identification of a particular visitor, it results in another extensive round of search. Through the use of a visitor management system, hospitals can significantly speed up the pinpointing process.
Moreover, having a visitor management system in hospitals helps to improve the access control within the hospital, thereby enhancing its security. For instance, visitors such as contractors would have timed access to certain parts of the building.
Such control over the access would ensure there are no unauthorised visitors beyond the stipulated admittance period, thereby securing patient safety within the hospital.
Data security
Aside from having a strong security system within the hospital compound, having a strong data protection system is also critical. This is especially so for hospitals where personal information is highly sensitive.
While there is no fault in recording visitors’ information on a log book, it is clear having a visitor management system would significantly boost the level of data security. Besides, through the incorporation of a data encryption feature in the visitor management system, it can further enhance a hospital’s data security system.
Having a visitor management system in hospitals also signals proper measures are taken to ensure efficient data security management. Not only would this boost visitors’ and patients’ confidence in the hospitals, but also improve the hospital’s security ratings.
Reduced costs
The usage of a visitor management system in hospitals could help hospitals reduce costs in more than one way while boosting its productivity levels.
Greater manpower flexbility
Having a visitor management system changes how hospitals can manage their visitors. Hospitals no longer have to assign their staff personnel a fixed role like that of welcoming and registering visitors, they can also do away with the analogue method of noting down their visitors’ details on a log book.
To put it simply, changing the game on how one manages their visitors could help reduce costs while having a great impact on the efficiency of fund allocation.
By using a visitor management system in hospitals, hospitals can have greater flexibility in allocating their manpower. Now that the simple and repetitive tasks are automated, hospital staff personnels can designate a greater portion of their time on resolving issues that require their immediate attention.
From the perspective of staff personnels, the digitalisation of processes implies they can take on more challenging tasks. To list some benefits, taking on a difficult job helps keep employees’ roles interesting and dynamic, while stimulating growth and building resilience.
Doing away with stationery and storage costs
The utilisation of a visitor management system in hospitals helps to reduce stationery and storage costs. If a hospital sticks to the traditional log book method for visitor registration, how many log books would there be? Compared to the costs of purchasing log books in bulk and allocating storage space, it is more cost effective to adopt a visitor management system in the long run.
Third-party billing transparency
Like any other organisations, hospitals would also hire contractors to complete certain tasks. In most cases, contractors charge on an hourly basis. To ensure the accuracy of the invoice issued by contractors, hospital administrators can verify it by using the information captured by the visitor management system. This could aid the hospitals in avoiding the additional costs that were included in the invoices.
In summary
The employment of a visitor management system in hospitals provides substantial benefits which allows a hospital to progress holistically.
Beyond the management of visitors through digitalisation, hospitals can now better understand their visitors’ needs through data collection. Reduction of cost is also possible with the adoption of a visitor management system.
Furthermore, the existence of a visitor management system in hospitals would signal to the different stakeholders that the hospital is capable of meeting their expectations. Not to mention, this would contribute to the establishment of having a better hospital brand.
