All types of facilities have a serious responsibility to do their best to ensure the health, safety and security of their visitors, employees, and customers.
However, for long-term care facilities, this responsibility has unique challenges.
Long-term-care residents are especially vulnerable from certain threats from visitors including and especially COVID-19, and failing to provide clear, safe access control measures can have especially dangerous consequences. However, you can minimize security and safety risks at long-term care facilities with better access control strategies, such as the ones detailed below. Limit Entrances It’s fine to give staff and residents full access to all entry points, perhaps with the assistance of NFC cards. But visitors should always be directed to the main check-in area.
Several important things happen at check-in that visitors simply cannot miss. They need to be screened and have their temperature checked, they may receive important safety information or be prompted to agree to a visitor policy. Your facility may choose to do some form of identity verification for certain visitors before they can come in. And there should be records kept of their visits for health and safety purposes. When visitors go in the wrong entrance, all of these important steps get skipped. Internally, it’s important for management to emphasize the importance of visitor policies. Staff and residents should be instructed to never open side doors for visitors, and to direct visitors to the main office instead. They should understand the importance of social distancing. Screen and Scan Implementing a digital screening solution will not only ensure the prevention of spreading germs but will make it nearly impossible for your visitors to skip any important information whilst checking in. You will have the ability to deny access to any high risk or unauthorized individuals. Get Serious About Visitor Recordkeeping Records of who visited and when can be important in potential COVID cases for settling the "Who started it", "What area were they in" questions. But it’s hard to keep track of this data, much less analyze trends, if you’re using an old-fashioned pen-and-paper for your visitor registration log. Paper records can easily be lost or damaged. They can also be difficult to read. By contrast, digital files are easier to search, easy to read (no more deciphering handwritten notes cannot), and . Plus, if you use visitor management software like ATG Digital, you can design custom digital check-in procedures that make it impossible for visitors to skip important steps or fill fields out incorrectly. This can make your records even more accurate.
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