The aged care industry is evolving, with new technology rapidly changing the way residents and their families expect care. Assistive technology is becoming integrated into the way we approach aged care and is an integral part of the industry’s move into the future. So, what technology do you need to get started? One of the fundamental pieces we recommend to all aged care centres looking to provide a more effective service is a visitor management system (VMS). Let’s now explore what a VMS is and why it is essential for the success of your facility.
What is a VMS?
You probably cannot remember how many people came to your reception in May of last year, and it’s likely that your receptionist doesn’t either. To answer this, you may have to move to the filing cabinet or flip through some Excel spreadsheets. But is that information truly accurate?
This is just one of the problems that a VMS can solve for you. A VMS is a data-driven system that tracks the visitors who enter your office – including your full-time employees, but also couriers, clients and guests of those you care for - anyone who visits your establishment. These systems replace conventional hand-entered visitor records with a tool that is real-time and accessible from anywhere around the world, allowing you to monitor the visitors that enter your aged care home. More importantly, a VMS enables you to effectively manage your legal and moral obligations that have stemmed from COVID.
Let’s take a look at five reasons why a VMS is essential for your aged care facility’s safety, security and success.
1. Contactless check-ins in the time of COVID
Perhaps the biggest benefit of investing in a VMS in this day and age is the ability to transmit important data, facilitate check-ins remotely and monitor visitors from the convenience of an Internet-connected device - all contactless. Even when there is contact, we provide assurance that it’s safe.
After all, people care for their loved ones. You need to provide a way for people to come in and check on their families without fear of spreading COVID-19 to them or others in the facility.
TIKS has a state of the art VMS for site access management that helps you deal with the challenges associated with COVID-19, including contactless check-in and visitor assessment where people can use their own mobile device. As an alternative, our state of the art touch screen kiosks now come with UV protection that ensures us that the screens are free of any risk of passing on viruses etc. Our technology allows you to add screening questions and has a thermal sensor which helps eliminate the threat of contamination. This is essential for the care of your residents as they are considered high risk in this environment.
2. Streamlined check-in process
While we’ve discussed the health and safety benefits that a VMS can bring to check-ins at your aged care centre, the benefits of them for your check-in process are actually manifold.
The first touchpoint for your visitors should be simple. Gone are the days of face to face check-ins at the reception desk, or even worse, writing your name and phone number down on a clipboard, sharing pens, waiting for lines and so on.
As the aged care industry moves into a new future-forward sphere and away from these tedious processes, you need to show your visitors that your residents are receiving the top-quality care they deserve. Adopting new technology shows that your facility is dedicated to ensuring that your residents and guests are placed at the forefront of your duty of care.
3. Enhanced security
Your residents and their families need to know that they are safe and secure. A VMS allows you to monitor visitors to your facility, recording important information about them including their name, proof of presence, their reason for visiting, whether they have completed any required paperwork or screening, and more. This data can be accessed at any time anywhere in the world from your Internet-connected device. You can also carry out messaging distribution and on-site inductions to ensure your visitors understand your safety and security protocols.
At TIKS, one of the benefits of our VMS is that it allows you to send a QR code each time you invite a guest to your facility. This can be used to conduct contactless check-ins, record each visitor’s information specific to that code, and is perfect for monitoring remote and isolated workers anywhere around the globe. Once you start using this regularly, it will also give you an insightful look into your visitors’ behaviour, which you can use to optimise your process.
4. Emergency procedures
Your aged care centre undoubtedly has an emergency evacuation plan and procedure. But can you use it to find every person in your facility and get them out efficiently?
A VMS allows all personnel with access to see who is on-premises, where they are and who is no longer on-site. TIKS Solutions has an integrated emergency management plan that can be customised to your facility, with the ability to pre-register visitors and map out their locations with geofencing. It is also perfect for use as a real-time roll call system and tool to quickly evacuate people out of your facility. The system allows administrators to send SMS or notifications to all people on-site so that important information can be communicated in real-time to facilitate effective evacuations and so on.
Figure: Emergency exit sign. Source: Unsplash
5. Data collection
Once you’ve used your VMS for a few weeks, you will begin to notice valuable trends and insights into the operations of your facility. This type of data cannot be generated from anywhere else and it can help you transform and optimise the way your facility itself runs.
This will help you understand a range of management options including:
● When to schedule more nursing or support staff
● What types of clients you should be targeting
● How to prioritise safety and security
● Which residents need higher priority care
● When to schedule cleaning services
TIKS Solutions gathers a range of data from your visitors, consistent with privacy obligations, into easily understandable dashboards to help you make actionable changes. You’ve also got the ability to customise your data collection by adding optional questions and verification methods to ensure that you are running your aged care centre efficiently and effectively with all the information you need.
Conclusion
A VMS is an essential tool for aged care centres wishing to provide a premium service in taking care of their residents, and show that they are moving into the future.
With our world-class visitor management platform, which includes an optional integrated contractor management system, site access management has never been easier. We are all Australian owned, operated and manufactured, and innovate faster than any of our competitors to ensure that you are provided with only the top quality services and support. Also, ask us about our integrated VMS and Wayfinding solution.
Find out more about how we can help you take your visitor management system to the next level.