Numerous ways to answer the call

HEJ editor Jonathan Baillie discussed, with several leading UK-based suppliers, some of the available technologies, considered their pros and cons, and asked senior personnel how they see nurse call systems developing in the short to medium term as demand for an ever wider range of features, and convergence with other equipment, continue to grow. 

During my discussions it rapidly became clear that nurse call technology and systems have undergone a really radical transformation since their early beginnings; several of those I spoke to could remember when the main, and indeed the only way for a patient to get a nurse’s attention was to loudly ring a bell at their bedside. While, emphasised Del Gray, technical director at Poole-based Medicare Systems, which mainly supplies to the UK care home sector, the latest systems incorporate numerous “added value” features, their primary function remains the same as ever – to quickly summon a nurse to the patient’s bedside. Nevertheless, especially when connected to other equipment, many now offer numerous additional functions – from the ability to turn on room lights, to transmitting data on the patient’s condition quickly and efficiently both to a nearby nurse console and, simultaneously, to the hospital’s central patient record system. As the Wandsworth Group, a leading hard-wired nurse call system specialist, aptly says in describing its flagship IP-based IPiN nurse call system: “Many people do not appreciate that the requirements of modern nurse call systems reach far beyond the basics of calling a nurse for help, or even simply voice communication between patient and nurse; nurse call systems today already serve as information, voice, and entertainment systems”.

 Converging functions/ technologies