Community Alerts with Beacons

Abstract

Community Alerts with Beacons is a cloud-connected network of visual alert beacons which provides real-time visualization of critical emergency alerts.The main system consists of a head node beacon which displays details of the alert on a small touchscreen. In the event of an emergency situation, the beacons will flash appropriate color patterns in relation to the event.

ICAB provides alerts for a community at large. You do not have to worry about signing up to different services for alerts or information about environmental or situational hazards. A life can change in the blink of an eye. If an alert can get to someone sooner, the outcome could potentially have a better result. We interviewed key Beacon leaders as well as providers and office staff in selected practices. ICAB provides alerts for a community at large.

If Beacon Communities are to achieve their health care improvement objectives, they must use an implementation framework that allows them to learn from early results and to refine interventions over time. The features described in this article outline how the Beacon Community Program emphasizes a culture of innovation and learning focused on concrete health improvement goals, with the idea that leaders of individual communities will be able to rapidly collect data about their interventions, make changes to improve those interventions, and disseminate information about their experiences.

The core features of the program include clear definitions of the communities; governance structures that give local stakeholders a voice but also permit the community to make decisions quickly when necessary; specific health and health care improvement objectives that guide the design of technology strategies; relevant metrics to track progress toward the objectives; interventions relevant to the objectives; and implementation strategies that allow for refinements to be made based on early results.