The Smartbadge gives caregivers the agility to respond to the complex and unpredictable patient care environment by enabling real-time situational awareness and allowing them to receive a prioritized alert and alarm notifications, make and answer calls hands-free, and send messages securely.

The salient features of the Smartbadge are:

Hands-free calling and answering calls.
Smooth, natural bi-directional conversation.
Seamless texting as done on a smartphone.
Receive phone calls, messages, and alerts with essential information available at a glance.
Present priority items to the end-user.
Integration of hardware, software, and firmware within a single device.
Real-time situational awareness and help in reducing interruption fatigue.

For detailed documentation, refer to the following documents:

Vocera V-Series Smartbadge (User Guide)
Vocera Release Notes Library (Previous versions of the release notes)
Vocera Device Configuration Guide (Information on firmware installation)
Feature Applicability (Information on the minimum required server and firmware versions)

Supported Versions of Vocera Servers

New and Enhanced Features

New Features in 5.6.0.202

This section summarizes the new features in the Vocera Smartbadge release.

Features Supported on Vocera Platform 6.x and Vocera Platform 5.x

User Interface Redesign—The Smartbadge User Interface (UI) is redesigned to enhance the following user experience.
- Scroll navigation is replaced with intuitive app navigation to resemble smartphone usability. You can navigate within the Smartbadge by tapping on the icons displayed on the home screen for different functions.
- The messages screen and the keyboard are revamped to make it easier for you to read and respond to messages.
- The alerts and messages have separate icons. You can combine them under a single Inbox screen if you prefer a unified view.
- The Badge info and Help are moved from the Settings screen to the new Tools screen.
Wake Word Enhancements—Wake word detection is improved to reduce false trigger.
Add/Remove from Group (requires VS 5.9 and VMP 5.9 for Vocera Platform 5.x)—Group management is enhanced to allow users to add themselves to or remove themselves from a group using the Smartbadge User Interface. Earlier, this was possible only using voice commands.
Pair Smartbadge with MBU app (requires MBU v1.1)—Vocera administrators and the technical support team can use the Vocera Mobile Badge Utility (MBU) for on-site troubleshooting of the Smartbadge. Pairing the badge with the mobile application allows to view badge diagnostic information that aids in solving communication and connection challenges.

Features Supported on Vocera Platform 6.x

Edit Alert Response—Alert response is enhanced to allow a user to change a response to an already responded alert if multiple responses from the same user are allowed on the alert.

Features Supported on Vocera Platform 5.x

French Canadian Localization—The Smartbadge User Interface and prompts have been localized to French Canadian language.

Fixed Issues

Fixed Issues in Release 5.6.0.202

Vocera Platform 6.x

G5W-14289 (CASE-3444) Badge enunciates incorrect response option when only Decline and Callback responses are configured for alerts.

Known Issues

Known Issues in 5.6.0.202

The following list provides information about known product issues in the 5.6.0.202 firmware and the Vocera Smartbadge:

Vocera Platform 6.x and Vocera Platform 5.x

G5W-5372 When a call is placed to an external number, and you put the call on Hold to check the participant list, the list appears empty.
G5W-7356 V5000 Smartbadge performs complete 802.1X authentication when it roams to a new Access Point (APs) that has a profile with 802.11w and OKC enabled.
G5W-6722 No audio is played through the Kimwood and CTXTKER digital USB-C headset.
G5W-7497 V5000 Smartbadge does not detect Kimwood USB-C digital headset.

Vocera Platform 6.x

G5W-13462 The Badge enunciates urgent alert twice if the alert is received during an instant conference.
G5W-11367 The Badge is unable to perform EAP-FAST authentication with CiscoISE 2.7.
G5W-12031 In voice-only mode, the timestamps for events shows different to the badge on screen lock when facility and server had different time zones.
G5W-5776 Several call log entries are displayed every time users decline the same group call.
G5W-7293 The Voice Server cluster's IP address is displayed in the Badge Settings even after clustering is disabled.
G5W-7509 When you cancel a message play initially, the urgent voice message status is displayed as read.

Vocera Platform 5.x

G5W-3925 When a conversation that expires in 5 minutes is initiated from VCS to the Smartbadge, a notification of the conversation expiry is not displayed.
G5W-3933 When a conversation with multiple choice responses that expires in 5 minutes is initiated from VCS to the Smartbadge, a notification of the conversation expiry is not displayed.
G5W-6344 Message indicating successful PIN setup pops up for less than a second.
G5W-7810 Genie icon continues to display on the status bar even after a speech-to-text message is sent.

Vocera V5000 Release Notes

Version 5.6.0.202

Release Date: August 2023

Updated: September 29, 2023