One of our trusted partners, Commend, have provided an interesting article detailing the benefits of their communication solutions. 

In the medical sector, seconds can be decisive in terms of life and death, especially in emergency rooms and operating theatres. Commend's security and communication solution for medical environments meets the strictest directives and regulations within this sector. It provides direct multi-site communication across facility complexes, e.g. to laboratories, blood banks, hospital pharmacies, wards and quarantine areas. What is more, they also support all necessary functions for efficient door access control, e.g. for maternity wards, nurseries etc. Personal safety and public assistance requirements are satisfied by Intercom stations for lifts and Public Address, as well as solutions for car parks and Intercom equipped parking spaces, which provide instant access to assistance in case of problems at pay-on-foot machines and vehicle barriers.

SUPERIOR SPEECH INTELLIGEBILITY
Extra high volume capacity – Active background noise suppression – Intelligent Volume Control (IVC) – 16 kHz eHD Voice speech quality

INTERCOM STATIONS FOR MEDICAL ENVIRONMENTS AND CLEAN ROOMS
Operating theatres, intensive care wards and treatment rooms.

• Conforms to EN 60601-1 (2nd Edition)
• Closed-sealed membrane surface
• Special anti-bacterial membrane
• Hands-free talking in crystal clear audio quality
• Resistant against detergents and disinfectants
• In-house communication for hygienically sensitive areas

INTERCOM STATIONS FOR MEDICAL ENVIRONMENTS AND CLEAN ROOMS
Operating theatres, intensive care wards and treatment rooms.

• Conforms to EN 60601-1 (2nd Edition)
• Closed-sealed membrane surface
• Special anti-bacterial membrane
• Hands-free talking in crystal clear audio quality
• Resistant against detergents and disinfectants
• In-house communication for hygienically sensitive areas

COUNTER INTERCOM
Communication through protective structures at patient windows or information desks. Barriers such as plexiglass reception windows etc. must enable clear communication and full speech intelligibility. This is where Commend’s pragmatic, cost-efficient solutions come into their own. With carefully selected components and proven leading technology they offer the necessary level of safety to stay in contact where physical contact must be avoided.

ACCESS CONTROL FOR DOORS AND SECURITY SENSITIVE AREAS (E. G., INTENSIVE CARE OR NEONATAL WARDS)

Access control for doors and security sensitive areas (e. g., intensive care or neonatal wards)

• Secured access to buildings, including video surveillance for points of entrance; calls not answered at the reception desk can be forwarded automatically to mobile devices.
• Add-in modules for vehicular entry/exit gates.
• DDA/ADA compliant Intercom stations enabling barrier-free access for people with mobility, visual or hearing impairments.
• Optional integration of access readers and access control systems
• Perfect acoustic intelligibility, even against loud background noise.

EASY CONTROL DESK MANAGEMENT
From the nurses' room to a central control station. 
Reliable communication connections between nurses’ stations, wards and central Control Desks. A central workstation provides a full system overview for receptionists and nursing staff so they can respond instantly in an emergency.

• Receiving Emergency- and Infocalls
• Announcements and Alerting
• Reporting, Scheduling, Call Statistics
• Voice recording
• Connections with Building management systems

RECEPTION

• Intercom Station models for reception areas, for answering door calls, paging persons in the building, etc.
• Automatic call forwarding (Intercom station / mobile radio / land-line telephone) if reception desk is temporarily unattended.
• Intercom Client app for (internal/external) mobile phone and tablet devices allows for location-independent use of communication and control functions.

AUDIO MONITORING
Acoustic patient monitoring
Commend Audio Monitoring allows for a sustained acoustic monitoring of patients and rooms, offering nursing staff an easy-to-use, uniform control platform that helps them to make patient care even more caring - and more efficient.

• Permanent sound volume monitoring on Intercom terminals.
• Any sound exceeding the pre-set volume threshold level will trigger an automatic call to the Control Desk.

PUBLIC ADDRESS VIA IP CONNECTIONS

• IP Amplifiers and IP Loudspeakers (projector, horn loudspeaker, ceiling speakers), ready for plug-in network connection
• Voice announcements for public transport boarding points and waiting areas
• Playback of pre-recorded voice messages for information, warning and evacuation purposes (addressable to individual boarding points or across all connected sites)
• Activation of media players for background music or radio feeds

INTEGRATION OF MOBILE RADIO COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS
Direct communication with emergency services

• Integration of mobile radio communication systems Integration of mobile radio (Tetra / Analog) for communication with emergency services.
• Simultaneous scanning of up to 8 channels (channel mixing), allowing operators to follow conversations on several channels simultaneously.
• One or more radio channels selectable at the simple touch of a button.
• Display of caller identity (ISSI) and Status message transfer (SDS).

LIFT EMERGENCY CALLS
The Intercom panel in the lift car performs constant self-monitoring and testing routines. It is therefore maintenance-free in compliance with EN 81.

INTEGRATED SYSTEM
Interfaces / Input – Output control

• Interfaces to third-party systems, such as video surveillance or building management systems
• Integration of telephone-lines and VoIP systems (SIP/IAX) 
• Active monitoring of input signals for various purposes, such as smoke alarms, motion detectors, door intrusion detectors
• Control of output signals – e. g. for Doors

PERMANENT AVAILABILITY THROUGH SYSTEM SELF-MONITORING
Every call guaranteed to get through – 24/7

• Intercom Stations come equipped with automated functionality self-monitoring (loudspeaker/microphone self-monitoring) 
• Connection monitoring Redundant server fail-safety and dynamic call forwarding 
• Saves costs by eliminating the need for manual function testing