Using Two-Way Radios for Stellar Staff Coordination in Healthcare

Healthcare staff are the most important asset in any hospital, but managers must be able to deploy their colleagues quickly where the need is greatest. A key advantage of using healthcare two-way radios is that staff can be contacted instantly so that they can be assigned tasks as soon as necessary. Whether a patient is in distress or a medical emergency has occurred, the ability to locate, contact, and deploy staff improves response times.

Emergencies don’t always occur in A&E departments where specialist doctors are routinely available. When a critical incident occurs on a ward, expert help may not be to hand, so it’s crucial that staff can summon senior doctors quickly. Two-way radios enable the nearest available doctor to be contacted immediately, thereby reducing response times and improving outcomes for the affected patient.

In large hospitals, staff security is a concern, particularly during the night when fewer colleagues are on duty. While most hospitals have adopted robust security measures to prevent unauthorised access to the building from outside, many of the assaults on nurses that occur each year are carried out by patients, especially when staff are working in isolation. Two-way radios not only provide staff with the ability to summon help as soon as it is needed, but also for their location to be tracked by managers or security personnel, so that no one is placed in a potentially volatile situation.

Security staff play a key role in hospitals, ensuring that unauthorised people aren’t allowed into the building and responding quickly if an incident occurs. However, due to the size of most healthcare facilities, it’s not possible for security guards to be everywhere at once so, by equipping them with two-way radios, they can be summoned instantly if a problem occurs. A fast response makes it more likely that a potentially explosive situation will be de-escalated, protecting staff from physical harm and ensuring the wellbeing of patients and visitors.

In 2021, UK hospitals were instructed to cease the use of pagers which had been the mainstay for communication between staff for decades. Many doctors switched to secure messaging apps which utilise cellular or Wi-Fi networks to send updates, requests, or questions via smartphones or tablets. However, data networks in hospitals are not always stable, so two-way radios are a trustworthy and reliable alternative that means staff can be contacted instantly, with no concerns about technology failing.