Healthcare Providers Use Fingerprint Scanning For Patient ID, Staff ID, And To Protect ePHI, But How Do Fingerprint Scanners Work?

What Is Fingerprint Scanning?

The short answer is that fingerprint scanners take an image of a person’s fingerprint but in reality, the technology is more complex. Fingerprint scanning uses a biometric process, or measurement and analysis of a person’s distinctive physical characteristics, to electronically collect and store human fingerprints.

By identifying and authenticating a scanned fingerprint against a database of known fingerprints, fingerprint scanners can: identify individuals, allow or deny people to access to a restricted area, operate a vehicle, permit the use of electronic equipment, open a cellphone app, and more.

Hospitals and Healthcare Facilities Integrate Fingerprint Scanners

Once only seen in futuristic movies and television shows, the use of fingerprint scanning has become a commonplace security measure in hospitals and healthcare facilities. Fingerprint scanners are used to grant access into buildings, obtain medical records, and identify patients.

According to a 2016 study by the ECRI Institute Patient Safety Organization's (PSO), a nonprofit group that advocates for patient safety, inaccurate medical records and patient misidentification has led to an increased number of medical neglect cases. The ECRI Institute found 13% of mistakes occurred during patient registration and at least 22% of errors involved people who received the wrong treatment or procedure.