Healthcare
Unit entry and exit records and contact tracing for intensive care and operating rooms
How do you record who entered and left critical units without installing card readers? Capacity, maximum stay, an inside-now list and contact tracing for infection control.
A unit entry and exit record shows when staff entered and left a unit inside the organization, such as intensive care, an operating room, sterilization or a drug store. It is different from working time: working time answers "is this person at work", a unit record answers "which unit is this person in right now". When an infection control team asks "who was in the unit that night?", the answer is usually pieced together from a paper list at the door, the duty rota and memory. Unit entry and exit, new in EnaFeedback 2.9.0, answers it by picking two dates and times. This post explains how the module is set up, how staff use it and how contact tracing works.
Why paper lists and card access fall short
Entry to critical units is usually recorded in one of two ways: a sign-in sheet at the door or a card access system. Sign-in sheets get skipped at busy times, exit times are almost never written down, and finding anything means scanning pages. Card access needs hardware, cabling and maintenance for every door; it often records entries only, and its reports stay with security.
The EnaFeedback unit module uses the location points your organization already has. A QR poster, live display or NFC tag at the unit door is enough. Staff scan it with their own phone and enter or leave in one tap; the record is written to the server at once.
Define the unit: points, capacity and maximum stay
A unit is created with a name and a color, then three things are set:
- Points: the locations staff scan, each with a direction: Entry and exit, Entry only or Exit only. For an operating suite with separate doors, setting the direction is all it takes. A unit can have up to 20 points, and one location can be a point of several units.
- Capacity and maximum stay: when the unit is full, no one else can enter; when the maximum stay (30 minutes to 24 hours, 12 hours by default) runs out, the record closes on its own.
- Audience: may all active staff enter, or only chosen personnel groups? Someone without access sees the card but gets "You may not enter this unit" instead of the button; the attempt is counted once per person, unit and day.
You can also require a work check-in before entering a unit: staff whose working time isn't open are told to check in for work first. Leaving always works.
How staff use it
When staff scan a unit's point, the Unit entry and exit card opens in the web staff panel or the mobile app. Each unit shows how many people are inside and an Enter or Leave button. A few rules keep records consistent:
- One unit at a time: entering another unit closes the previous stay as "Moved to another unit".
- Close at work end: when the person checks out of work, says they forgot to check out, or an admin or the system closes their working time, an open unit stay closes too, as "Closed at work end".
- Reminder and automatic close: at a share of the maximum stay (80% by default) the person gets a reminder; when time runs out the record closes.
Staff see the unit they're in now and their visits from the last 30 days, with how each closed, under My unit visits.
Inside now: who is in the unit?
On the Unit records screen, managers see who is inside which unit right now, with entry time, time inside and entry point. Anyone past the maximum stay is highlighted, and the list refreshes every 30 seconds. The Inside units now card on the admin home page shows full units and long stays.
The live display at the unit door can switch to unit door mode. Above the live QR code it shows the unit's name, how many people are inside against capacity, the door's direction and the status (Open, Full, Closed). No names appear, so someone walking past can't see who is inside.
Missed and wrong records
If someone forgot to scan, a manager adds the whole stay with a required note; it can last up to 24 hours and can't overlap another stay in the same unit. A closed record's exit time can be corrected while the original is kept. A wrong record is voided with a reason and stays in an archive with who, when and why. The person concerned is told in their language each time.
Contact tracing: pick two instants, get the list
Contact tracing lists everyone who was inside a unit between two instants (date and time) you choose. Each row shows entry and exit time and the time the person spent inside the window. Even a brief overlap counts as at least 1 minute, and people still inside are included. You can query up to 31 days, and the result downloads as Excel; every download is written to the audit log.
Example: a patient in intensive care between Tuesday 20:00 and Wednesday 08:00 is found to have an infection that needs isolation. The infection control nurse picks the unit and those two instants and, within seconds, gets the list of cleaning, technical and support staff who entered that night, with entry and exit times. The list makes no clinical decision; the team decides who to inform.
Analysis: occupancy heat map and stay times
For the chosen range (the last 30 days by default) you see entries, distinct people, average and median stay, auto-closed, manual and voided records and denied attempts per unit. The occupancy heat map shows the average number of people inside by weekday and hour, with the peak hour named above it. The Personnel tab lists entries and stay times per person and how long they spent in each unit. Everything downloads as Excel.
Alerts and unit coordinators
There are four unit alerts, all off by default: Capacity reached, Long stay in a unit, Closed automatically and Entry attempt without access. The ready-made Unit coordinator role covers records, record management and unit settings; unit coordinators without module management see only the units they're assigned to. The intensive care charge nurse follows their unit and the operating room lead follows theirs.
Privacy
Unit records hold no biometric data: the person's name, the unit, entry and exit times, the scanned point, verification flags and how the stay closed. The door display shows no names. Your organization, as data controller, decides which units are recorded, who sees the records and on what legal basis.
Frequently asked questions
Do unit records feed the timesheet? No. The timesheet is built from working time check-ins and check-outs. Unit records are independent; an open unit stay only closes when working time ends, and you can require a work check-in before entering a unit.
Can one location be a point of two units? Yes. A point in a shared corridor can serve both intensive care and a step-down unit; staff who scan it see both and choose which one they enter.
Do staff need the mobile app? No. Staff can scan the QR code with their phone camera and enter from the web staff panel. The mobile app adds a unit tile on the home screen and NFC-verified scans.
The bottom line
Unit entry and exit answers "who, when and for how long" for critical units without new hardware, and turns contact tracing for infection control from hours into minutes. Learn more on the staff attendance, shifts and units feature page and in the unit entry and exit help article, or request a demo.