Safety at work: implementing Ikonix Billboard at the expanded TQEH
The safety of our healthcare workers is paramount, and hospitals are one of the most at-risk environments for workplace violence.
In addressing this concern, in the expansion of Adelaide’s The Queen Elizabeth Hospital (TQEH) SA Health required a comprehensive duress alarm solution with visual displays – the solution was AiRISTA Flow mobile duress with Ikonix Billboard.
Australian healthcare workers face an increased risk of workplace violence.
In an alarming trend, in-hospital assaults increased by 44% in NSW, 48% in Queensland, and 60% in Victoria, between 2015 and 2018. An AWU survey in 2017 across 114 Queensland Health sites found as much as 70% of staff have experienced or witnessed an assault in the workplace.
Here in South Australia for the reporting year 2018-19, there were 12,307 code black (violence) incidents reported across the Local Health Networks. This has grown to 13,423 in 2022-23.
Workers in emergency departments, psychiatry and geriatrics face the highest likelihood of violent events. A 2017 survey by the College of Emergency Nursing Australasia found that 87% of nurses reported experienced patient-related violence.
SA Health expands and updates The Queen Elizabeth Hospital.
Located in Adelaide’s growing western suburbs, the TQEH is a 303-bed (prior to expansion) “acute care teaching hospital”
Opening in July 2024, the new 27,000sqm building includes
- a 46-bay emergency department,
- 12 operating theatres,
- a 14-bed intensive care unit,
- a 52-bed rehabilitation unit,
- 4 procedure rooms,
- a larger medical imaging department,
- a centralised pathology laboratory, and
- multiple staff support areas.
In this expansion and appreciating the critical security needs identified above, SA Health made the determination that they needed an advanced duress alerting system to keep their personnel safe at work in the Clinical Services Building.
Personal duress alarms with location tracking.
Display for security dispatch & responder wayfinding.
Personnel tags for all staff on shift in ED.
How was Ikonix Technology selected?
SA Health identified their need and issued an approach to market for electrical engineering contractors to deploy a mobile duress system. These contractors in turn approached Ikonix Technology.
In a competitive tendering process, the Ikonix Technology solution was selected as best meeting the specification to keep SA Health staff safe.
What makes up the solution?
There are four key elements within the system:
- AiRISTA Flow RTLS, driving the tag management and location tracking,
- The TQEH Wi-Fi network,
- Ikonix Messenger Message Integration Engine (MIE), and
- Ikonix Billboard displays.
Each personnel tag is tracked using the RTLS system via the building’s Wi-Fi, augmented by Bluetooth beacons for improved accuracy in specific areas.
When an alert is activated, the RTLS communicates with Ikonix Messenger, which broadcasts out to mobile handsets, pagers, Ikonix Connect and the Ikonix Billboard displays.
The messages are received by Ikonix Billboard, and each screen shows the alarm and its location on the floorplan map.
The tag continues to track while on the move, so the displays continue to update the alert location providing responders with a visual cue as the destination changes.
How was the system implementation achieved?
Using the Ikonix Messenger MIE and Ikonix Billboard products the AiRISTA RTLS system was integrated to allow notifications and location data to be first processed by the MIE, and then decoded to display on the screens.
Ikonix Technology and the hospital’s electrical contractors then installed several monitors in strategic locations, such as staff workstations and security offices.
Due to the critical nature of this solution, we then undertook an extensive program of testing, to ensure a robust and reliable outcome for end users.
How was the solution deployed?
The solution was deployed onto a virtualised ICT environment provided by SA Health and utilised the inbuilding Wi-Fi network for the real time location triangulation. Additional Bluetooth beacons provided room specific location confirmation.
Maps for the Ikonix Billboard displays were created with location zones configured and colour coded. These zones are geofences for the indoor positioning system.
The deployed system underwent an iterative calibration process to train the locating algorithms to the required accuracy, along with a comprehensive acceptance test regime with SA Health.
Training was delivered onsite with the end users and administrators on the live operational system over several information sessions, to ensure staff felt secure in using this safety technology.
And finally, we were ready for handover, with all stakeholders from frontline nurses to Chief Psychiatrist Dr John Brayley shown the system, and security team members incorporating the system in their operating procedures.
What else can we achieve with Ikonix Billboard?
Ikonix Technology is committed to continuous improvement of our products and services. This means development is not complete even after this deployment.
- Ikonix Billboard can display other information flowing through the hospital. While out of scope for this project, we can easily deploy the system to filter location-specific information in a text format for security, facilities, switchboard or other areas, displaying communications traffic.
- The Ikonix Billboard platform integrates with Ikonix Connect, our critical messaging app, allowing environments using both to synchronise alerts. For example, a duress alarm activates the visual display on Billboard, while also messaging personnel through Connect, even optionally overriding a phone’s silent setting, ensuring a quick response.
- The AiRISTA Flow system offers other types of asset and personnel tags. Using the same system, we can track and display events and their locations, allowing asset control or patient management. If an asset needs to be found, or a patient wanders outside their ward, notifications can be broadcast, and the map can display last position, as necessary.
Reza Forozandeh
Director
As the project manager for this deployment, Reza led the Ikonix Technology team in designing and implementing the Ikonix Billboard solution. This included liaising with electrical contractors, Wi-Fi specialists, our suppliers, and customer stakeholders to deliver the solution to specification, and in time for the expansion’s opening.