Nurse Call System

A nurse call system is health technology that enables residents or patients to notify care workers when they need help. It can either be technology that the resident must activate themself by pressing a button or pulling a cord, or more advanced technology that will passively and automatically notify if potentially dangerous situations arise that may require help from members of the care team.

Some nurse call systems have an inherent problem in that all the alerts sound throughout the whole building when the alerts ideally should only go to the relevant care staff on their relevant screens, like their handhelds. A modern nurse call system solves this problem and directs the alerts to the right health staff, making the nurse call system more targeted and making the work environment more pleasant. 

Examples of devices in a nurse call system are: alarm buttons, cord pulls, fall alarms, motion detectors, digital supervision, fire alarms, electronic door and window locks, and localisation technology.

A nurse call system provides reassurance for residents, patients, relatives and care workers that they will be notified if help is needed.

A nurse call system comes in many forms and different functions. The most advanced ones, such as RoomMate, cover a number of different functions such as performing digital supervision and automatically alerting and preventing dangerous situations such as falls. All sensors should be able to be integrated together on a common eHealth platform so that care workers get a user-friendly and uniform interface, where they can monitor alarms and events both on their mobile and on common screens in the nurses' station.

Nurse call systems are widely used in healthcare settings, including care homes and hospitals, but also in-home care.