Alan Stocker, health practice lead, Wavelink, said, “RTLS-enabled staff badges can make some employees feel like they’re being watched and distrusted. However, one of the biggest benefits of this technology is that it can actually improve staff safety. The World Health Organisation estimates that up to 38 per cent of health workers experience physical violence in their career. (1) Reducing this number is essential and RTLS technology is one way to do that.”

With RTLS, staff members can call for help by simply activating the staff duress badge, which lets them get help without drawing attention. Because RTLS lets healthcare organisations see where staff are to a high degree of accuracy, there are no unnecessary delays in providing help when it’s needed.

RTLS can also help improve workplace efficiency by enhancing workflow and communication. Therefore, teams can provide faster response times, deliver a better patient experience, and even locate equipment the moment it’s needed. The time saved could be lifesaving.

Containing infection in healthcare facilities is another area where RTLS can provide benefits, since it provides real-time tracking of medical equipment, staff, and patients. Being able to see which people and equipment have been in contact with each other, and when, makes it easier to control the spread of infections.

However, due to a number of myths regarding RTLS, healthcare employees are reluctant to embrace it. These myths include that RTLS can be used as a punitive monitoring tool, that it requires significant extra work, that implementing it means facilities need to shut down rooms and units, that it interferes with medical equipment, or that it includes bulky badges. None of these are true.

Alan Stocker said, “In fact, RTLS can enhance staff safety and reduce manual work. Infrastructure is installed in minutes. Facilities that choose the right RTLS solution needn’t worry about it interfering with medical equipment. Badges are thin and lightweight, and safe enough for users with a pacemaker or stent, and even pregnant and breastfeeding women. Communicating these benefits to employees could help overcome their fears regarding this technology.”

Wavelink has identified five ways to promote RTLS buy-in among staff:
1. Communicate. Discussing the change can help address specific concerns among staff and neutralise any fears.
2. Educate. Giving staff lots of information about RTLS will help them understand how it will affect their usual routines and the ways in which it will make their job safer or easier.
3. Train. It’s important to provide training so team members know how to use it. This also provides an additional opportunity to dispel myths about RTLS.
4. Answer. Team members are bound to have questions and it’s important to answer these honestly and openly. It can also be worthwhile to compile FAQs for the staff intranet or a company-wide email.
5. Follow up. Let staff know their opinion is important by following up with surveys and taking action to improve.

Alan Stocker said, “Successfully implementing RTLS technology depends on having each member of the team on board with the technology and why it’s being used. It’s therefore important to communicate openly about the technology and, in particular, to let employees know how it will improve their work environment.

“Wavelink has partnered with CenTrak to provide low-impact, high-return RTLS solutions to Australian healthcare organisations. Using RTLS solutions effectively helps healthcare providers streamline workflows, drive higher patient and staff satisfaction, and reduce costs.”

Reference:
(1) http://www.who.int/violence_injury_prevention/violence/workplace/en/

Wavelink, a leader in providing enterprise solutions to the channel, today announced it has been appointed as a distributor for CenTrak’s Location and Sensing technologies throughout Australia and New Zealand.

CenTrak’s mission is to transform patient care via high quality, reliable and affordable location and sensing technologies. The CenTrak offering supports high velocity updates and sub-room level accuracy across the entire healthcare enterprise. CenTrak uses seven different technologies to help healthcare facilities increase productivity, streamline workflows, drive higher patient and staff satisfaction and reduce costs, including: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), Second Generation Infrared (Gen2IR™), Advanced Ultrasound (IRUS™), Low Frequency (LF), active UHF and passive RFID.

Wavelink will be distributing CenTrak’s full suite of healthcare technologies, which supports asset tracking, environmental monitoring, staff and patient safety, workflow management, compliance and wayfinding solutions. In February 2018, CenTrak was named Real-Time Location Systems (RTLS) Category Leader by KLAS Research for a second consecutive year. The offering is currently deployed in over 950 leading healthcare facilities in the US, Asia, Europe, Australia and the Middle East.

Ilan Rubin, managing director, Wavelink, said, “The addition of CenTrak to Wavelink’s portfolio is a key component of advancing our solutions offering to our channels. CenTrak’s offering addresses a wide range of health use cases, which Wavelink will integrate with our applications and product suite. This will provide tremendous added-value to our reseller’s health offerings, which is a key element of our healthcare practice strategy.  Wavelink is proud to be working with world-class leading technology vendors and the addition of CenTrak is an endorsement that we are attracting leading solutions to bring to our partners.  We’re excited to be working with the CenTrak team and look forward to a long and productive relationship.”

About Wavelink:
Wavelink is a leader in providing enterprise solutions to the channel. Wavelink distributes a range of products from Spectralink, Olinqua, Spok, Fortinet and Digium. For more information please contact Wavelink on 1300 147 000.

About CenTrak:
CenTrak improves healthcare operational efficiency and the quality of patient care via the industry’s most robust and scalable Enterprise Location Services™ offering. Ranked #1 as the 2017 and 2018 KLAS Category Leader for Real-Time Location Systems (RTLS), CenTrak’s technology supports high velocity updates and sub-room level accuracy across the entire healthcare enterprise. In its mission to transform patient care, CenTrak helps world-class healthcare facilities increase productivity, streamline workflows, drive higher patient and staff satisfaction and reduce costs. For more information, visit CenTrak.com.

Visit @SpectralinkCorp and see the latest healthcare #smartphone at #AHW18 stand 169 pic.twitter.com/AMy3v5BVaj

— Wavelink AU (@WavelinkAU) March 21, 2018

Come talk to @SpectralinkCorp about the latest smartphones at #AHW18 stand 169 pic.twitter.com/fJymln8U98

— Wavelink AU (@WavelinkAU) March 22, 2018

Getting ready for day 2 at #AHW2018 with @SpectralinkCorp and @spoktweets pic.twitter.com/ceAiAFoJFO

— Wavelink AU (@WavelinkAU) March 21, 2018

Great day at #AHW18. Day 1 is over and all the donuts are gone!! Come talk to @SpectralinkCorp tomorrow for more donuts!! pic.twitter.com/U4nfXXqp53

— Wavelink AU (@WavelinkAU) March 21, 2018

Health practice lead Alan Stocker briefs the media on the new @SpectralinkCorp #Versity smartphone at #AHW18 pic.twitter.com/NcOdsaB67k

— Wavelink AU (@WavelinkAU) March 21, 2018

#Donutholdback! We are pumped for #AHW18 with @olinquatweets and @SpectralinkCorp pic.twitter.com/Qei4SC8RUJ

— Wavelink AU (@WavelinkAU) March 20, 2018

Our health practice lead Alan Stocker deep in a demo with key partner @NEC_Australia pic.twitter.com/x6Ij8kRfB2

— Wavelink AU (@WavelinkAU) March 20, 2018

We would like to welcome Paul Craven to Wavelink and we look forward to working with you.

 Wavelink, a value-added distributor of enterprise mobility and unified communications solutions, today launched its new health practice. Paul Craven has been appointed to lead the health practice, with a focus on bringing together solutions for Wavelink’s partners targeting public hospitals, private healthcare groups, and aged care facilities across Australia and New Zealand (ANZ).

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Spectralink Corporation (“Spectralink”), a global leader in wireless solutions for the workplace, has announced a refresh of its 7000 Portfolio of DECT handsets, along with the addition of new models to the series to even better meet end user needs.

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