Pandemic Visitor Management Best Practices aren’t going anywhere: 4 features your system can’t go without

The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the move toward a more modern approach to visitor management. Changes to visitor policies during the pandemic could serve as a catalyst for installing new and improved policies and security measures permanently. Now could be the perfect time to initiate a shift in your facility’s culture when it comes to safety and security.

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, many hospitals still did not have strict visitor management policies. COVID-19 has demanded stricter visitor policies and screening, with security teams and facility managers having to quickly adjust to implement new processes for visitors, employees, and even patients.

These new policies are likely to remain with a permanent shift to more automated, stricter healthcare visitor management policies where visitors are identified and monitored. PDC can assist you with visitor management system that can help healthcare security professionals manage these changes.

Here are visitor management best practices from COVID-19 that you should consider implementing.

1. Manage patient-specific restrictions with watch lists and personalized protocols

To assist with preventing the spread of the coronavirus, some hospitals are creating internal watch lists to manage specific patient restrictions. For example, they will create a watch list of “Coronavirus Quarantined Patients” to manage specific policies for COVID-19 patient guests, for example:

• Limit the number of guests per patient
• Create unique visitor rules and restrictions based on diagnosis and watch lists
• Integrate visitor management with your HER system to manage these patient-specific visitation policies
• Restrict specific guests from visiting

2. Clearly communicate your visitor restrictions

Your visitor management system is the first point of contact and therefore, it’s the front line for both the safety and security of your facility. Clearly communicate new and current policies (during the outbreak) so your guests aren’t confused. Clearly communicating policies and restrictions reduces frustrations and makes employees, visitors, and patients feel safer.

3. Pre-screen visitors and employees without using valuable human resources

A visitor management software should allow you to configure your workflow to prompt visitor to answer screening questions like their current health status, vaccination status or any other information you would need provide or deny access as well as to properly and direct a visitor.

4. Consider self-registration workstations

You could even consider self-registration for your visitors to avoid interaction with a physical person. Putting your visitor management software in a kiosk version would allow for more visitor registration workstations without the need for more staff involvement.