Distributed healthcare communication system
A graphical audio station of a nurse call system is operable to permit a user to perform one or more of the following functions: establish a two-way voice communication link with another computer device in another patient and/or with a another computer device located in another staff work area and/or with a wireless communication device carried by caregiver and/or with a telephone of the healthcare facility; broadcast a voice page to a group of other selected computer devices; compose and send a text message to a portable device that is carried by a caregiver and that has wireless communication capability; browse web pages and/or view multimedia content, such as videos, hosted on servers of the healthcare facility and/or that are accessible via the Internet; view and/or acknowledge and/or answer and/or cancel alerts or nurse calls originating in a plurality of patient rooms.
1. A healthcare communication method implemented in a healthcare facility having a plurality of patient rooms, the healthcare communication method comprising:
providing a plurality of graphical audio stations, each of the patient rooms having at least one of the plurality of graphical audio stations located therein, each of the plurality of graphical audio stations having a graphical display screen,
displaying on the graphical display screen of at least one graphical audio station of the plurality of graphical audio stations a list of nurse calls for the room in which the at least one graphical audio station is located and for other rooms,
providing a master station communicatively coupled to each of the graphical audio stations, and
using user inputs of at least one graphical audio station of the plurality of graphical audio stations to conduct a search for a location within the healthcare facility of a specific caregiver.
2. The healthcare communication method of claim 1 , wherein the user inputs comprise a keyboard shown on the graphical display screen of the at least on graphical audio station, and wherein using user inputs to conduct the search includes entering a name of the specific caregiver to be located using the keyboard.
3. The health care communication method of claim 2 , wherein entering the name of the specific caregiver to be located includes entering the first name of the specific caregiver in a first box shown on the graphical display screen of the at least one graphical audio station and entering the last name of the specific caregiver in a second box shown on the graphical display screen of the at least one graphical audio station.
4. The healthcare communication method of claim 1 , further comprising using the user inputs to conduct a search for locations of caregivers having specific job titles.
5. The healthcare communication method of claim 4 , wherein the specific job titles include one or more of the following: registered nurse (RN), licensed practical nurse (LPN), doctor, physical therapist, housekeeper, transporter, and/or maintenance personnel.
6. The healthcare communication method of claim 1 , further comprising using the user inputs of the at least one graphical audio station to establish a two-way communication link with the master station.
7. The healthcare communication method of claim 1 , further comprising using the user inputs of the at least one graphical audio station to establish a two-way communication link with a wireless communication device carried by a caregiver.
8. The healthcare communication method of claim 1 , further comprising using the user inputs of the at least one graphical audio station to establish a two-way communication link with a telephone of the healthcare facility or a telephone outside the healthcare facility.
9. The healthcare communication method of claim 1 , wherein the graphical audio stations located in the patient rooms are each configured to receive a nurse call signal and further comprising communicating the nurse call signal to the master station.
10. The healthcare communication method of claim 1 , further comprising providing a plurality of dome light assemblies, each dome light assembly being located in a hallway near a door of a respective patient room, and establishing a two-way communication link between the at least one graphical audio station and the master station using a circuit board located in a housing mounted near a respective one of the plurality of dome light assemblies.
11. The healthcare communication method of claim 1 , further comprising receiving at the at least one graphical audio station an alert signal from at least one piece of equipment located in the respective patient room.
12. The healthcare communication method of claim 11 , wherein the at least one piece of equipment comprises a hospital bed.
13. The healthcare communication method of claim 11 , wherein the alert signal corresponds to an alarm condition of the at least one piece of equipment.
14. The healthcare communication method of claim 1 , further comprising using the user inputs of the at least one graphical audio station to send a one-way voice page to a subset of the plurality of graphical audio stations.
15. The healthcare communication method of claim 14 , further comprising using the user inputs of the at least one graphical audio station to select the subset of graphical audio stations to which the one-way voice page is to be sent.
16. The healthcare communication method of claim 14 , further comprising using the user inputs of the at least one graphical audio station to send the one-way voice page to the master station.
17. The healthcare communication method of claim 1 , further comprising using the user inputs of the at least one graphical audio station to send a text message to a wireless device carried by a caregiver.
18. The healthcare communication method of claim 1 , further comprising using the user inputs of the at least one graphical audio station to select a contact method from among different contact methods for contacting the specific caregiver.
19. The healthcare communication method of claim 18 , further comprising providing locating equipment operable to determine whereabouts of caregivers in the healthcare facility and wherein the different contact methods includes contacting a specific one of the plurality of graphical audio stations corresponding to the location within the healthcare facility of the specific caregiver.
20. The healthcare communication method of claim 1 , further comprising using the user inputs of the at least one graphical audio station to perform at least one or more of the following functions: acknowledge alerts or nurse calls, answer alerts or nurse calls, and/or cancel alerts or nurse calls.