How smartphones in healthcare can save your staff from injury or worse

Working in healthcare can be risky. Nursing homes, residential-care facilities and hospitals are among the most dangerous, accident-prone places to work in the U.S. according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Medical equipment, sharp objects, wet floors, unruly and abusive patients, and other risks create environments where safety preparation is key.

Nearly anyone who has worked in healthcare has been in a situation with verbal abuse and/or physical abuse. Threats in healthcare settings can come from patients, angry family members or random visitors.

If you’re worried about your team’s safety, specially built smartphones from Spectralink can form an essential part of your safety plan. The Spectralink SAFE system provides safety features that ensure help is always on the way quickly in the event of an accident or emergency.

Every feature you could think of and then some

Spectralink safety functions are configurable based on your specific needs and the type of security monitoring system you have. You can use all of the features described below or just the ones that work best for your facility and staff.

Panic Button
All Spectralink phones feature a panic button – either the red button on the top of the phone or a side button if you prefer. The default configuration for the panic button is to make a loud alarm combined with an immediate call to a preset emergency number (configurable by you).

If you prefer, you can also configure the panic button to sound a silent alarm. In some situations, this is a better choice than sounding a loud alarm. Either way, by putting a Spectralink device equipped with SAFE in your employees’ hands, you are giving them a method to summon help in a situation that may not be easily deescalated.

‘Silent Duress’ is a similar feature to the panic button. It can be triggered through a key code that provides no alert to an attacker that security has been alerted. An automatic alarm call is triggered, and notification is sent to your central security monitoring system.

‘Running’ Notification
If the Spectralink handset detects a user is running, an alarm can be triggered in case they are heading toward an emergency or away from a risky situation. The alert is set off when the handset detects unusual shaking, indicating that the user is moving fast or even suffering a seizure. The sensitivity of this detection is configurable. Level 1 would require quite a bit of jostling before a warning was triggered. Level 7 would trigger the alarm if the user walked fast. The length of time to trigger the warning is also configurable – from 5 seconds to 5 minutes.

No-Movement Notification
Imagine a situation where a staff member were to collapse to the floor, unconscious. If that person were in a place without much foot traffic, like a supply closet, they might not be discovered for 15 minutes, during which time irreparable harm could occur. The Spectralink system can detect this type of scenario. If the smartphone remains stationary for more than a preset amount of time (which is configurable), an alarm will indicate the user is no longer moving. You can also configure the amount of motionlessness that triggers a warning – from nearly still to moving somewhat but less than normal.

Tilt Notification
This is another type of detection for unusual movement. With tilt detection, if the smartphone is detected in an unusual position (like completely flat on the floor because the user has fallen), your central security system will be notified that an incident may have occurred. Once again, these settings are highly configurable based on your situation and preferences. For example, the least sensitive setting (1) would require that the user be nearly prone to trigger the warning. The most sensitive setting (7) could be triggered if the user was leaning at an unusual angle. The sweet spot is probably somewhere in the middle. You can also configure this feature so the warning is triggered only after a certain amount of time so it doesn’t generate false alarms. You can set this anywhere from 5 seconds to 5 minutes.

Custom Modifications
Spectralink allows you to configure SAFE system settings to your facility needs. In addition to the alert situations listed above, you can set up a pre-alarm feature that indicates possible trouble. You can also configure the alarm itself – its sound (if you want one), vibrate function, display text, icons and LED flash.

ADDITIONAL PROTECTIONS AVAILABLE WITH SPECTRALINK

A full deployment of the Spectralink system provides a comprehensive solution for security. These two applications are the key components:
• SAM (Spectralink Application Management) makes it easy to configure and manage the deployment of Versity smartphones. It is the primary tool for configuring and administering Spectralink smartphones.
• AMIE (Advanced Mobile Intelligence for Enterprise) provides administrators with easy, intuitive and precise device tracking and management, including real-time device metrics.

With full deployment, you will be notified of not only incoming security warnings, but precisely where the device is located. In other words, you will always know exactly where to send help.

Complete the form below to request more information about how Spectralink SAFE technology can help protect your healthcare staff.

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