By Mohammed Murad

Biometrics are changing the way the healthcare industry is improving processes from patient identification to access control and pharmaceutical manufacturing. And with its accuracy, speed and convenience, iris recognition systems are becoming the go-to choice among biometric technologies.

Doctors, nurses and patients all count on the quality of pharmaceuticals being prescribed to treat a myriad of diseases. A single breach in a manufacturer’s quality control process could prove to be deadly. That’s why Iris ID solutions are being increasingly used to keep accurate time and attendance records, protect critical spaces and ensure only those with proper authorization are allowed to perform key tasks or operate the manufacturing machines.

This highly regulated industry must keep track of who initiates and stops any of the receiving, manufacturing, labeling and shipping processes. One large pharmaceutical manufacturer working with Iris ID daily authenticates the identify of 600 employees and vendors. And that’s in just one plant.

A robust and well managed employee authentication system can link a worker’s iris patterns to license and certification data to ensure only properly training workers are performing tasks. Iris ID’s contactless authentication system is as quick and easy as looking at a camera.

An accurate time and attendance system is key to maintaining a safe and trusted manufacturing facility. Manual sign-in systems are open to human error and fraud. An employee forgetting to sign in creates a gap in records that may become a blind spot for safety audits. That weakens a plant’s quality assurance program. Both a manual sign-in system and one based on sharable plastic access cards are open to the fraudulent practice of buddy punching – where one employee signs in for an absent co-worker. That’s eliminated by Iris ID systems authenticating employees by their unique iris patterns.

Learn more about how biometrics and Iris ID are being used throughout the healthcare industry in our free whitepaper, “Biometrics and the Three Elements of Healthcare.”

 (Mohammed Murad is vice president, global sales and business development, Iris ID)