Nurses are the backbone of every healthcare system; however, they are also a vulnerable group. A study stated, 75% of nurses reported that they were either verbally abused or physically assaulted while on the job [1]. Healthcare workers are exposed to workplace violence four times more frequently than private-sector employees.

The main challenge is that the violence against healthcare workers has not only a negative impact on the psychological and physical well-being of healthcare staff but also affects their job motivation. If they are afraid of caring for certain patients, as well as the quality of care could be compromised. It is important for healthcare workers to feel secure at work.

Make your “invisible” staff ‘visible.’

Most nursing staff will spend time working alone for some or all of their day. They may start early before other care team member arrives, or remain in a patient room after their colleagues have left. Such constant isolation can lead to technicians unintentionally becoming ‘invisible’ to colleagues. Robust procedures and equipment must be installed to ensure that such lone workers can always reach colleagues and responders with location-enabled alarms.

Discreet alarms to help handle the emergency quietly

During the crisis, the last thing we want to do is to exacerbate a tense situation or provoke an aggressor. A simple touch of a button on an Ascom mobile device can send a silent, discreet alarm to designated recipients, summoning help without alarming others. What’s more, our advanced voice functionality can open a secure and discreet communication channel for responders to listen in. Responders can listen in and monitor the unfolding situation until they reach the device’s location.

Locate. React. Protect.

Every second count, when responding to an incident. Quickly locating the staff in distress can dramatically shorten response times, which can contribute to better outcomes. That’s why the Ascom Staff Protection solution has evolved to support rapid and accurate locating of lone workers’ mobile devices. While Global Position System (GPS) tracking technology is used outdoor environment, various locating technologies can be used indoors, which can provide up to one-meter accuracy in the location, depending on the number of terminals deployed.

Quickly responding to workplace incidents is always a challenge. Ascom Personal Safety solutions empower actionable duress alarms providing coordinated emergency response, location accuracy, and post-incident reporting.

Ascom has a long, proud history of providing staff safety solutions to healthcare facilities across Australia, New Zealand, and worldwide, helping safeguard healthcare workers.

Contact us to learn how Ascom can maximise your healthcare workers safety at your facility. [1] Journal of Emergency Nursing, May 2014, Pages 218-228