Protection and access: The critical role of entrance systems in healthcare facilities
Ensuring that patients, staff and visitors are kept as safe as possible is essential to an effective healthcare environment. From accessing the hospital or clinic to the way staff interact and move through the facility, entrances play a crucial role in hygiene, security and accessibility. Even auxiliary departments like ambulance operations and logistics rely on functional entrance systems and loading areas.
With ever-evolving safety standards and unpredictable demand placed on healthcare organisations, modernising door and docking systems is an essential part of improving overall efficiency and performance.
Increasing global awareness of infectious disease control, and the vectors through which disease and bacteria spread, is placing greater scrutiny on doorways. Often requiring physical interaction to pass through them, doorways area key transmission location. While personal hygiene practices play a critical role in minimising this risk, there are alternative access options.
Hermetic and TightSeal sliding doors have been adapted for critical environments such as operating theatres and intensive care units. These systems are favoured by world-class healthcare locations across the world and are ideal for maintaining sterilisation and infection control. Designated cleanrooms also require specific solutions, like high-performance doors with easily cleanable surfaces to meet stringent hygiene requirements and minimise contamination.
For allowing movement into and out of a facility, automatic sliding doors quickly accommodate changes in traffic flow and make for ideal building entrances. Revolving doors are another alternative for when airflow and climate control are a priority. When space is a factor, like in emergency rooms and wards, automatic and swing doors are solutions that allow for maximum convenience and the rapid transport of patients and beds.
Access routes for emergency vehicles are important for a quick response but they must also be securely stored. Overhead sectional doors can provide robust security, safety, and privacy, while also saving space and keeping the interior well-insulated. Another essential group of vehicles in the healthcare sector are logistics trucks and vans, which require dedicated loading areas suited to the task. Reliable and optimised loading solutions,like dock levellers and shelters, ensure the rapid movement of goods into and out of a medical facility.
Modernising entrances and doorways provides several additional benefits. The right entrance can stop unauthorised visitors and interruptions, providing protection and safeguarding patient privacy. Automated, revolving and high-speed doors are also able to help control the movement of air within a building, maintaining comfortable temperatures in all four seasons. In turn, this can reduce the burden on heating and air conditioning systems, providing energy savings and reducing cost.
Keeping automatic doors and entrance systems running is essential to ensuring access and maintaining hygiene. Minimising contamination and the transmission of infections relies on the automatic, hands-free operation of these systems. As such, it is important to make sure there is a maintenance plan in place with service technicians ready to respond. By minimising the downtime of automated entrance systems, healthcare locations can improve overall hygiene and the increase the safety of patients, staff, and visitors.
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