Touchless Access Control Goes Beyond Minimizing the Spread of Illnesses in Healthcare Facilities
Healthcare facilities from private clinics to care homes to hospitals are constantly working and implementing new efforts to minimize the spread of illnesses within their facilities to staff and patients. COVID-19 has presented an array of challenges within healthcare, mainly when it comes to reducing the spread of germs. While touchless access control solutions have come to the forefront in addressing this challenge, there are other challenges within healthcare that touchless access control can help to alleviate in the long term.
Reducing the Spread of Illnesses Through Contact
Reducing the spread of illness through contact is the primary aspect of the pandemic that touchless access control has successfully addressed within healthcare facilities. The logic is obvious: if germs are transmitted through contact, the clear solution is to minimize contact at major touchpoints, such as access points to and within the facility. However, touchless access control goes beyond reducing contact where germs are spread.
Fight Supply Theft
One unforeseen challenge of the COVID-19 pandemic is a vast medical supply shortage. With these shortages comes an increase of supplies theft within healthcare facilities including that of masks, medical equipment, and other forms of supplies being stolen. A modernized touchless solution can work against theft by keeping such supplies locked in certain areas in which access is granted to only certain healthcare personnel.
Proactive Flow of Medical Personnel
High throughput facilities such as hospitals and medical clinics can be a hotspot for the spread of illness. Hospitals are notoriously busy places and as many reach capacities as more positive COVID-19 cases are being treated, it can be difficult to prevent bottlenecks in certain parts of the facility. However, these bottlenecks can be proactively monitored and managed by smart access control software. Most modernized systems include real-time data of staff movement throughout the facility. Proactively tracking the movement of staff throughout the facility can provide insight into where crowding is occurring so that other routes can be established to reduce crowding.
Modernized touchless access control goes beyond simply reducing contact points in healthcare facilities as it can address other challenges in the long run.