How can you simplify the identification of personnel while optimizing data security in a medical environment?

Healthcare establishments house a wide variety of populations: medical and care staff across a multitude of specializations; administrative, maintenance, and security personnel; patients, visitors, providers, etc. What’s more, these populations are constantly fluctuating. 

As a result, to ensure the safety of your establishment and facilitate its operation, the identification of persons and especially of staff is essential. For IT management, the identification system must be effective and sustainable and take into account the complexity of the situation. It should also be easy to use for the staff responsible for identifying personnel in your medical establishment​.

Create effective identification with personalized badges

It is ideal to be able to identify the different populations within your healthcare establishment at a glance. A simple printed or handwritten badge could suffice. But in addition to this, you need to manage your staff’s access to sensitive areas and data. The issues of personal identification and access control are therefore closely linked. To make your life easier, they should be handled through a single solution: personalized hospital or clinic badges.

A personalized identification badge printed on a plastic card meets these requirements and has many advantages in a medical environment:

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• Qualitative and practical support: the durable PVC material allows the badges to last several years, preventing the need for replacements and minimizing cost. The credit card format offers good legibility while being easy to wear thanks to the various compatible fastening systems.

• Graphic personalization as desired: an identification badge on plastic card can be printed in high resolution, single-sided or double-sided, with the design of your choice. By integrating elements of your graphic charter into your design, you can reinforce the brand image of your establishment. The addition of the badge holder’s photograph allows the badge holder to be instantly identified by colleagues and patients. Moreover, by integrating a color code specific to each profession, you allow for even faster identification and make your personalized medical professional badges even more effective.

• It is possible to encode data on the badge surface via a barcode or a QR code, or within a magnetic strip or a smart contact or contactless chip (RFID technology). Thanks to data encoding, a single card can have different functions:

– Secure management of access to restricted areas, personal data, and files. 

– Management of working time via a clock-in system. 

– Access to other services: payment in the cafeteria, borrowing various materials and equipment, access to the car park, etc. 

Furthermore, with an encoded card, you add intelligence to your system—all uses are computerized, allowing you to trace them at any time.

Another point to remember: a personalized RFID badge also has the advantage of avoiding contact in the interest of health and safety.

• Badge security according to your needs: plastic ID card issuing systems provide the option of adding holograms, a varnish, or a protective film to your badges. These technologies help to prevent counterfeit cards.

Manage the identification of your staff with personalized badges for clinics and hospitals

Identification badges for the staff in your clinic, hospital, or other healthcare establishment are particularly effective for easily identifying all your employees while allowing secure access control and the addition of complementary services.

One option to consider in order to meet your badge creation and renewal needs is internalizing the production of badges. You will then be able to manage badge updates yourself when required. 

To produce all your badges yourself, all you have to do is purchase card printers that will be installed directly in your offices. These compact badge printing and encoding systems can be easily integrated into your work environments.

Independently issuing your staff identification cards allows you to:

• Strengthen the overall security of your organization by ensuring that every employee is identified at all times.
• Prevent the transmission of sensitive data to a third party: by issuing your badges yourself, you control the entire process of handling your data. Not using an external service provider considerably reduces various falsification risks and breaches of your computer systems or your premises. 
• Ensure maximum continuity of service thanks to optimal reactivity in the creation of badges that grant specific accesses. 
• No longer be subject to the constraints imposed by your badge supplier: minimum order amounts, production lead times, and delivery of the cards to your establishment. 

Get peace of mind by adopting a proven identification system that is compatible with your existing IT system

To roll out a badge personalization and printing solution within your medical establishment and ensure your peace of mind, it is important to consider the following:

• Performance and functionality: choose systems that are already recognized for their reliability and print quality. The functionalities (double-sided printing, encoders, etc.) should correspond as closely as possible to your needs. Furthermore, it may make sense to look at the available options on these systems with a view to expanding them over time.
• Ease of use: make sure that the card printers you choose are as intuitive as possible. The easier your card issuing system is to handle, the less advanced training your administrative staff will need. This saves you time when installing your card printing solution and during its future use.
• Connection with your existing IT systems: the card printing system must also be easily interfaced with your existing software. It is therefore necessary to look at the manufacturer’s software offering (printer drivers, SDKs, etc.).
• System acquisition and usage costs, and cost per badge: these elements are paramount when choosing your solution and should be closely considered. Your investment in a personalized card printing solution can also be optimized by issuing all types of cards and badges useful to your establishment: badges for visitors, identification cards for medical equipment, signage in your premises, etc.

A leading expert for over 20 years, the Evolis Group designs and manufactures a wide range of systems for issuing personalized badges and cards. Our solutions are recognized for their print quality and their diverse functionalities. In addition, our systems can be customized in terms of both hardware and software to meet your needs in every respect. Our distributors and resellers assist you with each of your projects and are supported by our teams when needed.