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Hospital Visitor Policies differ from hospital to hospital. They vary from extremely laissez-faire practices to very restrictive practices. We are not advocating a "one size fits all approach," but we are advocating a policy review to reflect the circumstances of the day. You may be assured that if a patient or staff member becomes the victim of a criminal act while in your hospital l or on your grounds, questions will surely arise as to how the perpetrator gained entry.
Some hospitals expect visitors to wear temporary ID badge, while others have no requirements. Most hospitals do require employees to wear ID badges, however there is great variance in compliance, especially among Physicians. If you want to have carte-blanche in any hospital, simply put on a white coat and you may go anywhere you wish.
Here are a few questions you may want to consider when re-evaluating your visitor protocol:
· Should there be 24 hour a day visitor badges required or should we badge from 2000 to 0800?
· Should we require a photo ID before issuing a visitor pass?
· Do we need to know, by exception, that all unidentified persons are non -employees?
· Should we always know who is in our hospital? Should vendors and outside contractors wear badges?
· Should visitor badges be day specific and/or unit specific?
· Should we require visitors to log out when they leave?
· Should our ID Badges and Visitor Passes be location specific? Is you hospital 100% ID badge compliant?
· Should visitor badges be required all day or only from 2000 to 0800?
· Is your visitor control program an educational component of the new employee orientation program?
These are just a few of the questions that should be considered. An effective visitor control program can reduce liability as well as reduce theft and other criminal activity. An effective badging program, when there is complete archiving, can also be an effective investigative tool.
Companies such as PPM 2000 (www.ppm2000.com), have computer based badging systems that allow for customized visitor protocols. These system archive historical data and provide the hospital with the ability to do pattern and trend analysis. This kind of information may help the hospital in determining the best visitor policy for their facility. This information also facilitates decisions regarding security design as well as FTE allocation.
Any hospital that does not give its visitor program a second look as a result of the events of 9/11/01 and since, may be unnecessarily exposing themselves to avoidable risk and liability. Whenever a crime is committed in the hospital by known or unknown third parties, the inevitable question will arise as to how he or she gained access. Even though most hospitals' visitor control programs are not foolproof, if there is not a defined program predicated on need, there will be unnecessary liability exposure.
Although anecdotal, why do inner city hospital ls in high crime environments seem less likely to be sued for alleged security breeches? We believe it is because they are more likely to be diligent in control ingress on a 24 x 7 basis.
The primary reasons all hospitals do not maintain strict visitor con controls are cost and/or image. Visitor control programs require FTEs. They require that entrants to the hospital are funneled through a limited number of choke-points. Some hospitals place added responsibility on the ER by making it the after hours entrance. Some hospitals believe that a structured visitor control program will diminish the image of the hospital. How much do think an assault on a patient or visitor would diminish the hospital's image. Since 9/11/01 visitors have an expectation of heightened security. Part of that perception includes better access management.
A very important component of any visitor/access management program is the compliance and enforcement of the protocol. This means that security must become everyone's job.
You never get a second chance to make a first impression.
This statement, obviously applies to first time visitors to the hospital. The time to make visiting policies clear is during the admission process. The best time to make these policies clear to employees is during new employee orientation. You can be sure that all the questions posed here will be asked by a plaintiff's attorney if an adverse event occurs and injuries result.
One of the more difficult aspects of an effective access management program is getting physicians to fully comply. A visitor program in the absence of 100% compliance with the wearing of employee ID badges, is seriously flawed. One method to encourage full compliance is to inform patients that all of their care givers will be property identified. Visitor and employee badging are considered low level security procedures. They do not result in high level security. However, the absence of any structured program will increase the hospitals vulnerability and liability, especially in light of the events of 9/11/01.
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