Hi @erica.hoover (Customer)​ this is a great question!

If your team decides to take the RFID route, caution needs to be taken when applying tags to Vocera badges. There is not a lot of places to adhere the tag on the B3000n because it is designed to be compact. You could very easily block the Wi-Fi antenna as RFID tags are basically metal antennas that could interfere and block the Wi-Fi signal to the badge.

There are numerous reports with the Vocera Report Server that can help identify badges that have not been online for a period of times (days, weeks, months) and who last logged into it. We suggest checking on these reports weekly to identify badges that are offline or not returned.

Other customers have set up Vocera drop boxes at hospital entrances so staff see it on their way out and if they forgot to leave their badge can drop it in without the need to walk all the way back to their unit.

Stryker has investigated sounding an alarm when users exit premises but with Wi-Fi being available everywhere in buildings now and hospitals having multiple entrances and exits it just wasn't possible to find logic that would suit all situations. We also want to prevent false alarms from going off. 

The badge will beep after 2 minutes of losing Wi-Fi signal to inform the user it is not on the Wi-Fi network, but it is a subtle reminder beep rather than a loud interruptive noise because there are plenty of times when users might be in noise sensitive areas without Wi-Fi, so it is not appropriate to play a loud alarm every time a signal is lost. Hope this information helps, we would like to hear what works for your team.

This has been a struggle of shared devices. I have found no-one method resolves this issue entirely. It seems to change not only between departments but even shifts in the same department including how long they have been using them - as they become part of their uniform like carrying a pen. Unfortunately the Vocera System Administrators due diligence overseeing a units shared inventory is most effective from my experience. Some staff may underestimate the cost of badge as well.

1) If you can have a Policy in place stating staff need to return at end of shift. This helps on an official level but not always effective.

2) Sign in/out sheets. Great idea with limited success as this is typically unusual for staff to sign other items out they use.

3) Store badge is plastic drawers that are labeled with the badges label, have this drawer located in an area staff frequent most often (breakroom, main desk) as a device that has a 'home' adds to the chance it is returned. (This does help if placed in a location staff will frequent at beginning & end of shift)

4) Place the chargers with the plastic drawers. If the do log out, when they remove the battery they might recall it belongs in a charger after use so they may return them both.

5) Scheduled reports to the managers/supervisor unit contacts. Works for some instances but they are more focused on their staffing, patient load, budgets (not including lost badges) etc. until they are very low on badges - then it's an emergency that Admin needs to research & report.

6) Know your sites units badge loss by familiarity with which units have issues vs. others. Round those areas on a schedule, check on them if passing near the area.

7) I had discussed with the facility security team asking which exits are most commonly used (including non-dayshift & weekends). We placed mailboxes with a picture of the Vocera's on the box. Then rounded daily to the boxes, checked over the badges & returned them. This worked well BUT staff became use to using the drop boxes instead of returning them to the unit - so more work over time for whomever is rounding the drop boxes.

8) Physically rounding daily helps.

9) Depending on site size, physically inventory areas that have the greatest loss issue. Then send managers list of staff who had the badge last & which badge. (works well to date!)

@chytrananjappa (Medsurg and Neurotechnology Medical)​ I was an RFID admin and concurrently a Vocera System Admin some years ago as a Vocera customer. At that time we could not source RFID tags for B2000/B3000/B3000N badges that were small enough to properly attach to a badge, work effectively, reliably and not be too odd looking on a badge. Due to how RFID technology works, finding a large enough tag to reliably 'wake up' from a reader signal and announce itself reliably depends on: RFID tag size, tag type, if the tag is facing away from the user or between the badge & user and close enough to a reader to be activated.

As a customer we had facility policies in place for: signing in/out badges, requirement to log in & not abuse DND, log in with their own name, clean & return badges after use among others (like Recording only your name). But years as an admin had shown me badges became part of their uniform, more like carrying a pen work provides staff, where the best chance of staff returning a badge is when they had a 'normal' day. If their day was stressful, busy, working 10/12/16 hour shifts, leaving early or ill - staff were more focused on 'getting home'.

We then implemented 'drop boxes' at key exits which was VERY successful - but with a caveat - staff would typically not return badges to their unit and instead drop them in the drop boxes. As the admin I had to round the drop boxes daily, document which badges were returned to each drop box, then check out the badges for issued before returning them. This allowed me to find the occasional badge with issues - which helps in a larger deployment.