New FCC Regulation Makes Using the Most Effective Critical Messaging Technology — Even Easier!
Most of the time when you hear someone say, “I’m from the federal government and I’m here to help – BEWARE! However, a new FCC regulations change does help organizations that must rely on critical messaging technology. This new regulation makes high-power send/receive channels in the 935-940MHz band available to all hospitals. These channels can now be easily used to reliably deliver critical messages, via response paging systems, to responding personnel within 5 seconds, and to confirm that each of these critical alerts have been received and read. These high-power channels eliminate the dangerous delays, complexity, and dead spots endemic to low-power, unlicensed Wi-Fi and commercial cellular services.
Illustrating this important point are several recent natural disasters that have struck the U.S., resulting in wide spread power failures, making it difficult or impossible to send or receive messages via smart or cell phones or even recharge their batteries. Some of these outages have lasted for several days. Even after power is restored, extensive use of a cell app causes extreme battery depletion, and it’s just not practical to have a smart or cell phone tethered to a charger on a regular basis during emergency situations.
The battery life for most response paging system devices is generally 3 to 4 weeks and they are easily replaced. Even when using WiFi and Bluetooth enabled cell phones for redundancy, these technologies drain the phones’ batteries, significantly reducing battery life. And, if you fail to enable those features, you may not receive your critical messages at all — even when the cellular system is working perfectly outside the building.
Some smart and cell phone networks do not allow a device to receive a text message while being used in the voice or phone call mode. It’s not an option for a healthcare provider to miss a critical life or death message, because they took a phone call. Smart phones have other drawbacks as well, such as susceptibility to malware and virus attacks and the need for continual software upgrades. All of these challenges are unacceptable in a critical alert messaging situation.
When used for clinical alarm notification, high-power response paging systems reach responding personnel more quickly and reliably, reduce workflow disruption and mitigate alarm fatigue. These advantages improve patient care and increase hospitals’ efficiencies. This new FCC action makes critical messaging solutions simpler to deploy and more available to hospitals. Additionally, high-power solutions are now available to other commercial and non-commercial enterprises in the utility, energy, transportation, education, industry, and security sectors.
Occam’s razor applies to critical alert messaging. His theory states that the simplest solution is the best solution, and response paging offers critical messaging technology that is the simplest to deploy and easiest to use and learn. There is no other technology in the marketplace today that surpasses response paging for sending critical messages, with confirmation of receipt. It’s simply the easiest and most uncomplicated way to deliver a critical message immediately — anywhere, every time. Literally thousands of healthcare providers, first responders and other organizations have come to rely on response paging as the optimum method for delivering their critical messages.
And, the FCC has just made it easier for everyone to use!