When lives are on the line

Public safety officials and first responders out in the field have long been accustomed to the peace of mind having duress buttons on their radio handsets has given them. Simply press the button and help will arrive. But they’re not the only ones who need such a safety net - many indoor workers need similar functionality, including medical professionals who work in hospitals.

For doctors and nurses, getting a ‘help!’ message out while also advising of your location has traditionally been difficult. But Australian hospitals now have new, affordable options when it comes to protecting frontline staff from potential escalating levels of violence towards employees.

Innovations in network infrastructure, cloud computing, unified communications and virtualisation can now deliver modular mobile duress solutions that are powerful, flexible, simple and cost effective. Cash- and resource-strapped regional hospitals can provide their staff and patients with improved protection, often without the need for significant investment in high-end infrastructure.

The scale of the problem in Australia has been highlighted many times in recent years. The Australian Medical Association has noted that violence in hospitals was a pandemic, which was aggravated by overcrowding and frequently linked to alcohol and drug use as well as mental illness.

“While the creation of a safe environment in healthcare facilities is a complex issue involving many factors, technology has an essential role to play,” says Ian Poole, chief executive officer of ICT infrastructure services company UXC Connect.

Duress systems, which are designed to protect staff by alerting security resources to the location of the emergency, have traditionally been fixed systems. But mobile duress alarms worn by staff are becoming more commonplace.

For decades, personal emergency response systems afforded a degree of protection for individuals through simple emergency notification. Mobile duress systems in healthcare environments deliver more sophisticated security for greater numbers of people over wider geographic areas and with more defined location-finding. They are also integrated into the facilities’ security infrastructures.

“The modular approach means healthcare facilities can choose a flexible and customisable system that is most appropriate to their existing or planned environment,” says Poole. “Duress solutions should be based on open standards, such as WLAN, and designed to be interoperable and expandable to integrate into other site-critical infrastructure elements.”

Poole says operators should consider eight factors when considering a mobile duress solution. It must:

• be based on industry standards,
• follow state health agency requirements,
• have room-based accuracy,
• include location tracking,
• have reporting capabilities,
• be interoperable,
• have repeatability,
• have proven-use cases.