A nurse call is a button found around a hospital bed that allows patients in health care settings to alert a nurse or other health care staff member remotely of their need for help. When the button is pressed, a signal alerts staff at the nurse’s station, and usually, a nurse or nurse assistant responds to such a call. Some systems also allow the patient to speak directly to the staffer; others simply beep or buzz at the station, requiring a staffer to actually visit the patient’s room to determine the patient’s needs. The call button provides the following benefits to patients: · Enables a patient who is confined to bed and has no other way of communicating with staff to alert a nurse of the need for any type of assistance ·
Enables a patient who is able to get out of bed, but for whom this may be hazardous, exhausting, or otherwise difficult to alert a nurse of the need for any type of assistance · Provides the patient an increased sense of security The call button can also be used by a health care staff member already with the patient to call for another when such assistance is needed, or by visitors to call for help on behalf of the patient. Laws in most places require that a call button must be in reach of the patient at all times for example in the patient’s bed or on the table.It is essential to patients in emergencies.
There are also laws that vary by location setting the amount of time in which staff must respond to a call. It is the responsibility of nursing staff to explain to the patients that they have a call button and to teach them how to use it. The most basic system has nothing more than a button for the patient. When the button is pressed, nursing staff is alerted by a light and/or an audible sound at the nurse’s station. This can only be turned off from the patient’s bedside, thereby compelling staff to respond to the patient.
Like basic system, wireless type has ability for alerting nursing staff by sound, light or even show messages in a terminal. This type has major advantage that is no wiring works while installation and reducing the costs. It’s much more mobile and handy than conventional system. 9 In some facilities, often in hospitals, a more advanced system is included, in which staff from the nurse’s station can communicate directly with patients via intercom. This has the advantage in which staff does not need to waste time walking to the patient’s room to determine the reason the patient made the call, and they can determine by speaking to the patient whether the situation is urgent or if it can wait until later.
With the intercom system, the alert can be turned off from the nurse’s station, allowing staff to avoid entry into the patient’s room if it is determined that the patient’s need can be met without doing so. In this report, a new approach of nurse call system is presented built around microcontrollers. In chapter one we expose the specifications of the proposed system. Chapter 2 deals with the microcontroller’s overview and its architecture. Chapter 3 shows the proposed architecture and the simulated circuit in Proteus. The main practical results are presented in Chapter 4. Finally, a conclusion summarizes the work and shows the future development that could be added to the project.
