When people working in healthcare facilities feel safe, they provide high-quality care that, in turn, makes their patients feel safe. Safety solutions that feature wearable duress buttons contribute to workplace violence prevention efforts by empowering staff members to participate in workplace safety plans and request help directly to their location in emergencies.ย
Workplace violence prevention in healthcare is a central priority in healthcare organizations and institutions across the US. Healthcare leaders are working to counteract the trend of increasing incidents of workplace violence in healthcare. Organizationsโ safety solutions should reduce emergency response times and foster a culture of safety. To find the safety solution that accomplishes these goals, administrators must understand the unique needs of their organizations and facilities.
What Factors Should Healthcare Leaders Consider?
The inherently open nature of many healthcare facilities presents challenges to mitigating acts of violence. An effective response requires significant deliberate planning and preparation, taking into account the facilityโs vulnerabilities, mission, culture, risk tolerance, and available resources.
Many factors impact the relative safety of each organization or facility. Whether an organization is urban or rural, small or large, public or private, its leaders are charged with pursuing workplace violence prevention in healthcare.
To identify the optimal safety solution, healthcare leaders should consider:
- Number of employees
- Size of the entire campus, indoors and outdoors
- Campus layout
- Non-healthcare buildings and structures, including storage and maintenance facilities, parking garages, and others
- Existing safety infrastructure
- Building floorplans
- Numbers of specialized units and their locations on campus
- Locations and security level of entrances and exits
- Effectiveness of emergency notification systems
- Access control locations
CENTEGIX Safety Platform: An All-in-One Safety Solution in Healthcare
The CENTEGIX Safety Platformยฎ is a comprehensive safety solution. The Safety Platformโs integrated solutions help healthcare facilities nationwide reduce emergency response times and create peace of mind for healthcare workers. The Safety Platform is purpose-built to support workplace violence prevention in healthcare. The Safety Platform is a centralized, real-time source of accurate information during emergencies.ย
Unlike other healthcare solutions, the CENTEGIX Safety Platform unifies key safety functions in one platform with integrated components. While many safety solutions include a wearable duress button sourced from a third-party vendor, CENTEGIX designs, manufactures, and supports the CrisisAlertโข badge as a core part of the CENTEGIX Safety Platformยฎ.
Safety Platform capabilities and features include:
- Wearable duress buttons empower healthcare workers to request help to their precise location.
- Discreet, silent wearable devices that support de-escalation by enabling staff to call for help without escalating the situation.
- When an individual requests help on their badge, designated staff are immediately alerted on the Safety Platform dashboard, where responders can see who is alerting and their location, down to the room level.ย
- The Safety Platform issues clear, informative notifications, including strobes, audio notifications, and desktop takeovers, so everyone on campus knows what to do and where to go.
- Ability to authenticate and check in visitors, customize check-ins for specialized units, and establish no-go lists tailored to each unit.ย
The Advantages of CENTEGIXย
Discreet and Wearable Technology
The CENTEGIX Safety Platform empowers staff with a discreet, wearable duress button that enables them to silently notify responders when support is needed. The wearable badge enables healthcare providers to remain where they are while implementing their de-escalation training. They receive an immediate, silent vibration indicating that their alert has been sent. Knowing support is only seconds away helps caretakers begin de-escalation with more confidence, more control, and more supportโwithout disrupting other patients.ย
Every badge is integrated with the Safety Platform, so designated responders can see exactly where the alert is located on the map and respond immediately. CENTEGIX prioritizes employee privacy, and monitors a userโs location only when the button is pressed. This delivers enhanced staff safety without compromising privacy.
When choosing a wearable duress button, administrators must ask:
- Does the device empower users to summon help silently?
- Do users get a silent confirmation that their alert has been activated?
- Does your wearable duress badge track a userโs location throughout the day?
LoRaWAN Precision
The CENTEGIX Safety Platform achieves total, reliable campus coverage. Using private LoRaWAN and Bluetooth networks, users can initiate alerts anywhere on campus, from patient rooms to stairwells and parking garages. This campus-wide coverage creates a safety ecosystem that nurtures peace of mind among employees and facilitates workplace violence prevention in healthcare.ย
The Safety Platformโs dedicated networks prevent delays due to spotty Wi-Fi or cell phone connectivity. CENTEGIX uses all three national cellular carriers for failover and connectivity. Competitors rely on a single carrier, making their safety systems unreliable in buildings with spotty coverage.
When choosing a wearable duress button, administrators must ask:
- Does this wearable duress button work in parking garages and stairwells?ย
- Does it cover common areas between buildings?
- Does the wearable duress button require Wi-Fi or cellular service to send an alert?
Avoid Pitfalls
Many wearable duress buttons are linked to systems that require outlets and hardwiring. Organizations that choose these systems must undertake construction projects and infrastructure changes. Other platforms may require additional wiring, outlets, or switches. Safety Platformโs installation is primarily wire-freeโonly gateways require cablingโensuring quick installation and limited interference with access points. In addition, whereas competitors rely on a single gateway per site, creating a single point of failure, CENTEGIX installs at least two gateways per site.
Systems that require hardwiring are dependent on uninterrupted power. A device that must be recharged daily, weekly, or monthly is vulnerable to being powerless or charging and not accessible when needed. Because the Safety Platform is built with multiple layers of resiliency and redundancy that other wearables donโt offer, it stays operational when other systems go dark.
When choosing a wearable duress button, administrators must ask:
- How long does the battery in your wearable duress button last?ย
- What happens if the battery needs to be replaced?
- Do system redundancies prevent single points of failure?
Laser Focus on Safety
CENTEGIX is the industry leader in healthcare safety. Over 700,000 badges are currently in use across the US at more than 15,000 locations. The CENTEGIX Safety Platform delivers discreet, empowering protection to more than 15 million people.ย
Healthcare organizations need a partner with extensive safety expertise and a refined solution. CENTEGIX has a proven track record of providing guidance to organizations and helping them achieve best practices in healthcare safety. CENTEGIXโs longevity, laser focus on safety, and customer-led innovation have made it the leader in wearable safety technology.
When choosing a healthcare safety platform, administrators must ask:
- Is safety the system providerโs sole focus?
- How long has the wearable technology been in use among staff?
- How many badges are in use?
- How many people does the provider protect?
- How many facilities does the provider cover?ย
All healthcare organizations are working to mitigate the adverse effects of workplace violence in healthcare. To best protect staff, patients, and visitors, organizations should choose reliable, purpose-built systems with precise location capabilities and a discreet, wearable duress button. The CENTEGIX Safety Platform is a comprehensive safety system that empowers individual employees and helps healthcare leaders build a safety ecosystem.ย
To learn more about how CENTEGIX, the industry leader in workplace violence prevention in healthcare, can help your organization, schedule a demo today.ย
