Exploring access control systems

Know why visitors enter your facility

Controlling how visitors enter your healthcare facility may be one of the easier components of access control. But because hospitals are generally open buildings, access control expands beyond a hospital’s entrance. Controlling access to a door is easier than ensuring that once visitors are inside the facility, they are where they are supposed to be and have a reason for being there. To do that, you need staff and leadership support. 

Leadership support

A security protocol’s effectiveness depends on how well it’s followed. Security plans often rely on frontline staff members, but if their supervisors are lackluster about security programs and aren’t leading by example, the plans might fail.

“I’ve gone to hospitals and watched visitors roll past the front desk where badges are given, and there’s sign-age indicating visitors should stop at the front desk. I asked them why the visitor wasn’t stopped, and I’m told that administration said not to push [the policy],” says Fredrick Roll, MA, CHPA-F, CPP, president and principal consultant of Healthcare Security Consultants, Inc., and Roll Enterprises, Inc., in Frederick, CO. 

Without supervisor support, staff members are sent conflicting messages and they won’t enforce any security system, says Roll. If staff members know the policy requires that visitors receive ID badges, yet they don’t enforce that requirement, chances are they also aren’t using the badges as a tool for better security—they won’t check to see whether visitors have badges or whether the badges are correct or outdated. If this doesn’t happen, the system’s purpose is lost. 

“You’re never going to have enough security people, so the staff really have to enforce your security program,” Roll says, regardless of whether that means ensuring visitors have ID badges or asking visitors their purpose if they look lost. “If the staff members know it’s not being done on a regular and consistent basis, hell, they’re not going to stick their neck out there and stop somebody because they don’t have a pass.”