Generic ID badges are okay for medical students in your hospital
Some of my colleagues and I were talking recently about what to do with ID badges for medical students who are only on site for a week or two.
You could make up a batch of generic student badges without names for the more temporary folks. That said, I don’t think I would advise giving them any sort of security access badge — too much opportunity for abuse and you really can’t exercise absolute control over them. Also, you end up having to put the students in the system and taking them back out when they leave, which is a mighty big pain in the posterior.
I’d contact the vendor from whom you get your “normal” staff badges and ask them if they have a less expensive card of the same design that you can use with whatever printer equipment you have. In fact, you could extend this “no access” badge program to vendors and other transient folks that you’d want to at least keep an eye on.
About the Author: Steve MacArthur is a consultant for The Greeley Company, a division of HCPro. He brings 30 years of healthcare management and consulting experience to his work with hospitals, physician offices, and ambulatory care facilities across the country. He is the author of HCPro's Hospital Safety Director's Handbook and is contributing editor for Briefings on Hospital Safety. Contact Steve at 
