Walkie Talkie For PCTs

A walkie-talkie, also known as a handheld transceiver, is a two-way radio. Portable radios of this kind were developed in the late 1930s and early 1940s by several inventors and companies, including Donald Hings in Canada, Al Gross in the United States and Motorola, whose team included Henryk Magnuski. Walkie-talkies are not new: they were widely used in World War II and became common in workplaces and public services afterward. For patient care technicians (PCTs), they are a quick way to reach teammates without leaving a patient’s side.

Before your shift: a quick checklist

• Check that the radio powers on and the battery is charged. A quick radio check with a teammate confirms you can hear and be heard.
• Set the volume so you can hear calls clearly. A radio that is too loud can be heard by people nearby, and one that is too quiet means missed calls.
• Press the push-to-talk button, pause for a moment, then speak. Otherwise the first words can be cut off. Do the same when you answer a call.
• Keep messages short, and listen before you transmit so you don’t talk over someone else.
• Charge your own radio and store it as the manufacturer recommends, so it is ready for the next shift.
• Practice with the radios your team uses, so everyone knows the controls and the local channel rules.

Radios come in different types, and the right one depends on how your workplace uses them. In most facilities the employer chooses the radios and sets the channels and rules, so follow those. If you are involved in choosing, our guide to two-way radios in clinics and hospitals covers licensing, privacy and interference. Features that help in a clinical setting include a casing that can be cleaned, a simple layout and a jack for an earpiece.

On many handheld models the power switch and the volume control are the same knob: turn it clockwise to switch the radio on and raise the volume. Layouts differ, so check where the controls are on your model. Taking a few minutes to learn them helps avoid most problems.

Keep patient information off open channels

A radio channel is shared. Anyone nearby with a radio on the same channel can hear what you say, including visitors and people outside the building. Privacy codes only filter what your own radio plays; they are not encryption and they do not make a channel private. It is generally wise to avoid saying patient names or other identifying details, such as a date of birth or record number, over an open radio channel. Using the minimum information needed, and moving anything sensitive to a phone call or a conversation in person, is a common approach, but follow what your facility’s policy directs.

For general background, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) publishes HIPAA guidance that discusses reasonable safeguards, such as avoiding patient names in public areas. This page is general information only, not legal or compliance advice, and a radio on its own does not make communication private or compliant. Your facility’s privacy and compliance policy comes first, so ask your supervisor if you are unsure what is allowed on the radio. Our post on two-way radios in clinics and hospitals explains the privacy limits of open channels in more detail.

Top image: “Tiers of leadership, The field grade officer tier” (a medical group commander holding a handheld radio during a mass casualty exercise) by U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Austin Knox, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.