HID Global Releases IoT-Based Duress Badge for Hospitals
The BEEKs duress badge beacon can be centrally managed through the Cloud to transfer new messages, send firmware updates and conduct battery status checks remotely.
AUSTIN, Texas — HID Global announces the launch of its BEEKs duress badge beacon, which it says can be used to protect doctors, nurses and other caregivers from threatening situations that can occur in a hospital.
These badges, enabled by Bluvision (part of HID Global), provide valuable location services and can help ensure everyone is safely out of a building in emergency situations, according to the company.
The duress beacon is the latest addition to the HID Location Services IoT platform, which makes it possible to streamline and enable multiple location services applications in a unified healthcare IoT ecosystem.
The Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) duress functionality provides a fast and easy way for hospital personnel to send security staff real-time distress alerts from anywhere in or around the hospital campus if they are in duress and in case of other emergencies, according to the company.
“It’s well known that an effective response system is critical to keep high-risk situations from escalating into workplace violence, but acquiring, deploying and managing yet another disparate hospital system is costly — often creating a barrier to adopting a duress solution,” says John Sailer, chief operating officer of Bluvision.
The BLE beacon can be used by itself or integrated into popular access control cards already in use.
By pressing the back of their badge, staff members instantly trigger a duress alert that identifies them and their location — inside the hospital, the parking garage or other configured areas — for immediate action by security teams.
The beacon can be centrally managed through the Cloud to transfer new messages, send firmware updates and conduct battery status checks remotely. Its unique design allows it to broadcast reliably and with precision, even in densely populated WiFi environments.
Other highlights of the BEEKs duress badge beacon include:
- iBeacon (Apple), Eddystone (Google) and sBeacon (Bluvision) supported simultaneously
- Location precision down to 6 ft (2 m)
- Central management possible
- Fast and easy roll-out
- Optional combination with any passive credential in ISO card format
- Optional duress button, raising an alert when pressed
- Personalized (locating individuals) and anonymous (utilization reports) usage options
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