Aged care facilities provide a facilitative social environment that helps reduce problems with psychological disorders such as depression via social interaction and activities that aid socialization. Aged care objectives include staying connected with older adults’ community, taking care of their health and safety & meeting their cultural and social needs.

In 2017-18, over 1.3 million older people received some form of aged care services. Among them, 241,723 people received permanent residential aged care, and 61,993 received residential respite care, of whom 33,145 (approximately 53 per cent) were later admitted to permanent care.

Department of Health, Australian Government

Therefore, about a million people’s safety and well-being are in question.

Context

Aged care residents must engage with their loved ones and partners in care as much as possible while the health professionals are mandatory visitors. Residents might also need to leave the premises to participate in activities or exercise, spend time with loved ones or receive care and services. When COVID-19 struck, the impact of these engagements on an aged care resident came to light. Given the vulnerability of older people to any disease, a precautionary approach has been needed. All over the aged care sector must screen and restrict entry to residential care services if required at any time. This situation raised the need for a system to regularly screen all people prior to authorizing entrance to the aged care facility staff (including current, new, and emergency staff), attending health professionals, and visitors seamlessly and safely. There comes the visitor management system like EVRM.

How the Visitor Management System (VMS) can help Aged Care

Visitor Management System (VMS) can be a hygienic, contactless way to register visitors at aged care through the following features:

• The aged care facility will have a touchless digital entry system, with a kiosk for the visitors and staff to sign in at the main entrance. Moreover, the QR code sign-in feature will ensure a touchless and hygienic visitor sign-in environment.
• Every staff member or visitor arriving at the facility will be asked to respond to a standard set of risk screening questions at the point of entry.

The screening questions can include:

• • Have you been overseas or traveled on a cruise ship in the last 14 days?
  • Have you been in contact with a confirmed or suspected case of COVID-19 over the previous 14 days?
  • Are you in close contact with or caring for someone who is currently unwell?
  • Have you currently or within the last 7 days been unwell or been aware of any of the following symptoms:
    • Fever, night sweats or chills
    • Cough
    • Runny nose
    • Sore or scratchy throat
    • Shortness of breath
  CDNA

If the answer to any screening questions is ‘yes,’ then the staff member or visitor will be denied entrance.

• The VMS can help present the aged care guidelines while entering the premises and document them with the visitor and staff members’ signatures to ensure compliance.
• In an emergency, a visitor management system will help identify all relevant close contacts (including regular, new, emergency staff) via the visitor-host registration system.
• VMS is customizable, meaning any change in the government rules and restrictions can be updated instantly.
• A visitor management system in aged care will monitor anyone who enters, including their name, contact details, the reason for the visit, and whether they have satisfied the required paperwork, temperature check and screening. It ensures residents’ safety and the peace of mind that everyone in the aged care facility has undergone the necessary sign-in and screening process.
• A digital visitor management system can help visualize visiting trends and peak periods to optimize the functions of an aged care facility. This data cannot be bred and compiled from manual visitor management in such detail and specificity. According to Zipline, these trends and observances can support running the aged care better and optimize operations such as:
  • When to schedule more nursing and support staff
  • Which sections of the facility are most visited
  • When to schedule upkeep services
  • What target market to focus on

The benefits of using Visitor Management System in Aged Care

The benefits of using a visitor management system in an aged care facility not only build the brand image but also ensure every resident’s safety, security, and well-being. Some of the numerous benefits include:

• Ensuring routine screening of staff and visitors on entry to the facility, including thorough temperature monitoring and asking a standard set of screening questions
• Notifying staff, residents, representatives, and other regular visitors about the screening arrangements by pre-inviting them through the visitor management system
• Documenting screening outcomes and assuring these records can be readily provided to the public health unit
• Supporting contact tracing by using the collected data
• Notifying all the on-premise visitors, staff and residents in case of an emergency at once using the visitor management system
• Ensuring the aged care is in compliance with the government rules and regulations
• Reducing the risk of any legal and financial repercussions
• Ensuring low vulnerability to compliance and financial risks
• Using automatic digital bookkeeping and reducing costs
• Improving site’s surveillance to enhance overall safety and security
• Ensuring a seamless way to manage the aged care facility and the well being of aged people can continue without any stop

Conclusion

At all times, precautionary steps taken using a visitor management system will ensure aged care service providers and partners in care can access residents to provide care, services, and support whether there’s a pandemic going on outside or not. As the aged care industry moves forward, they must show their visitors that their residents acquire the first-class care they deserve. By integrating new technology like visitor management systems, they will demonstrate that their aged care is devoted to providing residents with the best care possible.