At Loma Linda University Medical Center, Locknetics Computer-Managed Locks Secure Drawers & Cabinets
No More Lost Keys – Protects Medications & Equipment –Helps Hospital Meet JCAHO Regulations
FORESTVILLE, CONN. – October 30, 2002 –IR Security & Safety’s Electronic Access Control Division (EACD) today announced that internationally-acclaimed Loma Linda University Medical Center (Loma Linda, Calif.) is securing medications and special equipment kept in approximately 100 drawers and cabinets while enhancing its nurses’ accessibility to them with a “Locknetics On Board” standalone access control locking system. Computer Managed (CM) door locks and cabinet locks are placed throughout the medical center, outpatient dialysis unit, ER and the community medical center. Nurses open the CM door and cabinet locks by simply entering their own special codes on the locks’ keypads and pulling their levers. Their use complies with JCAHO (Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations) regulations.
“Nurses from our critical care units were constantly losing their keys to drawers and cabinets that contained medications and special equipment,” remembers Ken Hendricks, Loma Linda University Medical Center supervising locksmith. “All too often, I would get a call to come down to the Medical Center at 2:00 am in the morning to re-key a lock. That no longer happens since we installed the CM battery-powered locks on the drawers and cabinets. These locks have been very reliable.”
According to Hendricks, even after migrating from standard cabinet keys and locks to high security keys and locks, it was still difficult to manage keys. Due to budget constraints, staff did not want to go to the expense of installing a hardwired system. With the standalone CM system, they match the benefits of a hardwired system, being able to give each user his/her own credential, assign time dependent access privileges if desired, and even download audits by simply connecting a laptop to the CM lock.
No longer do nurses or the locksmith staff have to keep track of keys, making both more productive. The entire locking system is contained within the drawer. Each nurse has her/his own numerical code as does the pharmacy. Audit trails on the last 1000 events are recorded, allowing the Medical Center to keep close track of who went into any specific drawer or cabinet and at what time. If something happens, the locksmith staff can attach a laptop to the lock and download the information.
The CM locks are also placed on the Center’s Herman Miller plastic storage units, a low portable cart with drawers, used both on patient floors and the ER. Since it is convenient to keep medications and special equipment in these “nurse servers,” a high security lock is required. Other CM locks secure large stationary Herman Miller cabinets.
As Hendricks contemplates migrating to a campus-wide multi-function smartcard, the CM locks will fit right in because they also work with other credentials such as iButtons, magnetic cards, HID proximity cards and biometric handreaders besides the presently-used keypads.
About Loma Linda University Medical Center
An outgrowth of the original Sanitarium on the hill in 1905, the present 11-story Loma Linda University Medical Center opened on July 9, 1967. With the completion of the Loma Linda University Children's Hospital in late 1993, nearly 900 beds are available for patient care, including at Loma Linda University Community Medical Center and Loma Linda University Proton Treatment Center. LLUMC operates some of the largest clinical programs in the United States in areas such as neonatal care, and is recognized as the international leader in infant heart transplantation and proton treatments for cancer. As the only tertiary-care hospital in the area, LLUMC is the only level one regional trauma center for Inyo, Mono, Riverside and San Bernardino counties.
About IR Security & Safety’s Electronic Access Control Division
Since 1969, IR Security & Safety’s Electronic Access Control Division (EACD) has provided premium electronic access control solutions, including electromagnetic locks, monitoring consoles, electromechanical locks and strikes, electrical and electronic exit devices, power supplies and controllers to security professionals and their customers. Leading brands such as Recognition Systems, Schlage, “Locknetics on Board” and Von Duprin comprise the Electronic Access Control Division of IR Security and Safety, which serves an international clientele from its headquarters in Forestville, Conn. Phone is 866-322-1237. The IR website is www.irco.com.
For a downloadable, high-resolution photograph of a CM lock at Loma Linda University Medical Center, go to www.brighamscully.com and click Photographs/IR Security & Safety.
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