From buttons and bells to a nurse call revolution

Many of us will have visited a friend or family member in a hospital or care home and seen the hand held button provided to enable them to call for help. In the early days, a nurse call system was simply a push button at the bed side that triggered an audible and visual alarm somewhere near to where nurses or carers would be stationed. The responding nurse or carer would hear the alarm, look at a panel of lamps and the illuminated lamp would indicate the room or bedside where they were needed. 

Advancements in nurse call systems have been based around additional functionality including remote indicators, door alarms and movement sensors, all of which are hard wired to a central processing unit. In fact, one of the major limitations of traditional nurse call systems is that a wired infrastructure needs to be installed, maintained and adapted each time the structure of the building is altered, extended or repurposed. 

Of course, all of this comes at a considerable cost and severely restricts innovation and the adaptability of the environment into which systems are introduced. In addition, many care home owners only invest in such technology every seven to 10 years, so how can such a decision be made to take into account future advancement and innovation? Is wireless the future for the care market or are traditional systems more suitable?