RTLS Technology Has the Power to Protect Infants
Real-Time Location System (RTLS) technology enhances hospital security by protecting vulnerable infants from abduction or misidentification through sensors paired with parents' wearables that trigger alerts if tampered with or mismatched, while also supporting staff safety and restricted area monitoring via location-enabled badges and rapid alert protocols.
To combat the risk of a security event occurring in a hospital, many organizations equip their facilities with technology that provides peace of mind and protects their patients and staff. Real-Time Location System (RTLS) safety solutions, such as infant protection, wander management, and staff duress, use location technology to ensure patients are in approved areas. If a patient approaches a restricted area, protocols are set in motion such as immediately alerting the security team, locking doors and elevators, sounding alarms, and automatic video recording. Staff use their location-enabled badges in the case of a duress event, pushing a button and discreetly alerting security team members to their location and to send assistance.
Hospital RTLS for Infant Protection
Infants are often considered the most vulnerable patients in a hospital. An RTLS infant protection solution can be implemented to guard against abductions or being matched with the incorrect family. Once a child is born, a member of the clinical care team will attach an RTLS sensor via a comfortable and flexible band to the baby’s ankle. The sensor will alert the nursing station if the band becomes too loose or if it is cut, ensuring around-the-clock safety and protection. The baby’s sensor is paired with the parents’ RTLS wearable to ensure they are matched correctly. If an infant is brought into the wrong room, the parent’s sensor will beep and flash red. A pop-up alarm will also display and sound on the workstation user interface. Humans make mistakes, but an RTLS infant protection solution helps to automatically prevent life-altering errors.
RTLS Technology Options to Support Infant Security
Location accuracy and communication speeds are critical to the success of any RTLS safety system, especially infant protection. There are many different technologies on the market, so what should you look for?
- Dedicated, supervised network: Network communications and urgent alerts must be delivered quickly and with assured reliability. By having a dedicated network (rather than relying on Wi-Fi access points or existing Wi-Fi infrastructure), you minimize the risks of outages and load on your existing network.
- Clinical-Grade RTLS: Ensure the movements and current location of infants and mothers are accurately captured and immediately communicated to the server. In an emergency situation, every second counts. You want to be sure that you can find the infant you are looking for as quickly as possible. RF-only technologies such as Wi-Fi often have difficulty meeting these requirements due to communication lag times and location “hopping” between various rooms or floors.
- Failover redundancy in the event of a server outage: With an infant protection system, you’ll want to ensure security door controllers will continue to operate (ability to alarm and lock doors/elevators) without network dependency.
Harness today's leading infant protection solution. Learn more at https://centrak.com/solutions/safety/infant-protection
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Choosing an Infant Protection System
The article emphasizes the importance of infant protection systems in healthcare facilities to prevent abductions and accidental swaps, highlighting benefits such as reliable dedicated networks, comfortable wearable designs, and scalable real-time locating technology, while advising facilities to proactively choose cost-effective, comprehensive security solutions tailored to their needs.
RTLS Technology Has The Power To Protect Infants
Real-Time Location System (RTLS) technologies, including infant protection sensors paired with parents' wearables, provide hospitals with precise, real-time monitoring to prevent infant abductions, mismatches, and unauthorized movements by triggering alerts, locking access points, and notifying security, thereby enhancing patient safety and staff response in critical situations.
Upgrading Or Replacing Your Infant Protection System?
Healthcare facilities upgrading or replacing infant protection systems should prioritize comfortable, unobtrusive wearable RTLS devices for infants and mothers, intuitive and easy-to-use technology for staff with features like auto-enrollment and customized transport options, and robust connectivity with real-time alerting and reporting to effectively prevent infant abduction and ensure safety.
Streamlining Infant Security In Hospitals
Hospitals are enhancing infant security by implementing advanced automated systems that streamline clinical workflows, reduce staff workload, and improve emergency responses through integrated monitoring, alarms, and access controls, thereby creating safer environments for newborns and easing pressures on healthcare teams amid staff shortages.
Hospital Safety Solutions
CenTrak offers award-winning real-time location system (RTLS) safety and security solutions for hospitals and senior living communities, including staff duress alerts, infant protection with tamper and unauthorized movement detection, wander management with live mapping and lockdown capabilities, and wireless emergency call integration, all designed to enhance patient and staff safety, improve care quality, and streamline healthcare operations through intuitive software and robust analytics.
Healthcare Staff Duress System: RTLS for Staff Protection
CenTrak's Healthcare Staff Duress System uses BLE-based real-time location technology and wireless call-enabled safety badges to provide clinical-grade precision in quickly and discreetly summoning help during workplace violence incidents, ensuring immediate alert notifications with accurate location data, meeting Joint Commission standards, enhancing staff safety, improving response times, and enabling detailed reporting for proactive violence prevention and improved hospital safety and morale.