As the health care industry continues to evolve in response to changing patient needs and consumer demands, it is not uncommon for patients to be cared for in either an alternate or transitional location outside of traditional hospital settings. These new models are often called ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs), outpatient facilities, urgent care clinics, surgical hospitals, diagnostic treatment centers, and freestanding emergency rooms.
While these facilities provide increased flexibility when scheduling multiple procedures or tests at one time – saving both staff time and money – they also increase the risk for medical error due to the increased number of people caring for a sick patient who is not confined to one area or room. This makes nurse call systems, which allow patients to quickly request the assistance of an available caregiver when they need help, more important in these alternate locations than ever before.
What is a Nurse Call System?
Nurse call systems are hardware/software solutions that enable patients – or staff on their behalf – to notify caregivers when they need help by pressing a button located in the patient’s room. These systems typically consist of either wireless personal alert buttons with base units placed near bedsides (and sometimes in bathrooms), wired “help cord” buttons mounted next to bed controls with transmitters positioned near the bottom of patient care beds and pendants worn around necks that emit signals up to 100 feet away directly to nurses’ and other caregivers’ smartphones.
By contrast, nurse call systems integrated with cameras and audio – found in some long-term care facilities – allow patients to not only request assistance but also to speak directly with nurses, orderlies, or other hospital staff members while they are working elsewhere in the facility. This is very helpful when a patient urgently needs assistance but cannot reach his/her personal alarm device or locate the call button located on the bed rail.
How Does Nurse Call Systems Benefit Health Care Facilities?
Although nurse call systems were initially created to help provide constant monitoring of senior citizens who live alone or in assisted living communities without 24/7 supervision, their benefits have since expanded well beyond that original purpose. Adding live video streaming and interactive services to common nurse call button systems can be reassuring for homebound patients – particularly seniors who live alone – to maintain constant contact with hospital staff members whenever they need help.
This also decreases the risk of medical errors resulting from delayed or non-response to patient requests due to being out of the visual range of a room. The use of nurse call systems continues to grow within regular hospitals and long-term care settings; additional enhancements will be made which allow these alerts to go beyond just pagers on caregivers’ belts. This could include using smartphone apps so that patients can reach their caregiver directly or having buttons located in multiple areas of rooms so that even bedridden patients have access when needed.
