Design development and implementation of wireless nurse call station

In this work, a nurse call system is designed and developed which provides continuous monitoring of patient´s status. The system helps in assisting patients who are bedridden and have no other means of communication with medical staffs in the absence of their caretakers. The conventional nurse call systems employ push button switches mounted near hospital beds that facilitate patients to alert a centralized base station for seeking the attention of the nurses or other health care staffs. As and when the call is initiated and attended the alert signal is automatically turned on and off respectively. A radio frequency based wireless communication is adopted to address the additional wiring requirements in the initial installation process. The designed system provides the unique identification number of the patient through voice messages and short messaging service (SMS) messages to the base station. The call can be initiated either by manual or automated modes. In the automated mode, the physiological parameters such as ECG, pulse rate, oxygen saturation level, respiration rate are continuously monitored and in case of any emergencies, voice message and SMS is initiated automatically.