Fully redundant alarm system provides optimised notification and coordination in emergencies

Vienna – 17 November 2010 – The Regional Hospital in Villach in Austria’s Carinthian region has created an emergency plan which includes the implementation by NextiraOne, Europe’s leading expert in communications services, of a fully redundant alarm and emergency alert system. The solution meets the need for a  fast response system where seconds count in an emergency situation – allowing doctors, paramedics and nursing staff to be notified and coordinated and to ensure the care of casualties.

Building on the existing alarm solution from NewVoice Mobicall, NextiraOne has extended the network infrastructure to allow ongoing alerts. In the event of a failure in the network connection the additional redundancy server takes over locally the functions of the main server. The alarm server is connected to the Alcatel-Lucent OmniPCX Enterprise telephone system and communicates directly with the terminal devices, including PCs, DECT handsets and mobile phones.

The scope of the disaster can trigger a range of different alarm scenarios and ensure a coordinated and fully automatic alerting of all necessary staff. Depending on the type of disaster the doctors, nurses and administrative staff are notified in three corresponding sub-groups.

The alarm can be triggered through a telephone extension, a Web interface or an IP alarm box connected to the alarm server. The alarm server sends the alert out to the necessary response teams via DECT handsets and mobile phones. Employee data is automatically imported into the emergency alarm database from the personnel management system. This ensures that the personnel information and phone numbers are up to date.
 
GSM Integration allows the mobilisation of staff who are outside the area of the Villach Hospital. The alerted employees can respond directly from their terminal devices, using a number of options. The server stores the responses according to whether they will arrive at the scene within 30 minutes, one hour, or not at all, and these are automatically passed on to those responsible for managing the emergency. The staff of every department of the hospital in Villach can see online the current status of the emergency staff.

Alongside the emergency alarms the management of the notification process, including emergency calls, fire alarms, patient transportation, the management of technical alarms and the central management system are all handled through the alarm system. The alerts are transmitted to the terminal devices as mini-messages and tickets via TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol).

Ing. Josef Hattenberger, Technical Director of the LKH Villach Hospital, is enthusiastic about the extended alarm system: "In an emergency seconds count, whether in terms of being at the scene for patients or getting additional medical personnel into the LKH Villach Hospital. A well-functioning system of notification of employees in an emergency is therefore critical. Our partner NextiraOne has created a solution for us that meets these serious demands and allows us to operate faster and more effectively.”

“The integration of all communications channels into a complete, fully redundant solution simplifies and speeds up communications for all personnel. This is particularly important in the healthcare sector: immediate notification must be guaranteed no matter where the employees are and what device they are using," said Margarete Schramböck, NextiraOne Vice President for Germany and Austria.

A case study of the LKH Villach is available at: http://www.nextiraone.eu/eu/content/download/11535/159641/file/Casestudy%20Austria%20LKH%20Villach.pdf