How Senior Care Facilities Benefit From Nurse Call Systems?

Senior care facilities deal with patients with unique and diverse needs. For these patients, being able to ask and receive help when they need it makes for a positive experience in these care facilities.

In addition, the ease that comes with nurse call systems can make the difference for a patient who needs urgent help, for instance, assistance to a bathroom or shower.

Any senior care facility that is concerned with the well-being of its residents must invest in a nurse call system to facilitate staff-staff and patient-staff communication. If you are still skeptical about introducing a robust nurse call system in your senior care facility, here are some critical benefits you can learn from.

1. Quick Response

The goal of nurse call systems is to alert staff when a patient needs care. Modern nurse call systems come with call management software, that can show different priority calls.

These systems can also alert caregivers on the exact need a resident has. For instance, if they need help in the bathroom, they can press the nurse call button or pull the cord inside the bathroom to call for help.

This reduces the time it takes for caregivers to attend to the patient’s needs. Quicker responses are essential in keeping residents in your senior home happy with your service.

2. Discrete Support

Most senior care residents are already uncomfortable with losing some or all of their independence and ability to care for their needs. Therefore, they might be too embarrassed to ask for assistance and don’t like others to hear their needs.

However, with a nurse call system, residents can discretely call their caregivers to attend to their needs. This reduces the chances that patients will take matters into their own hands and engage in activities that would otherwise endanger their well-being.

Discrete support doesn’t apply only when a resident needs help with the bathroom. These systems also allow residents to maintain a sense of independence by being able to move around the facility without a person following them all the time. They can confidently explore their environment and request help as soon as they need it.

3. Resident Safety and Mobility

Nurse call systems come with a pendant or watch pager that residents can wear within the facility. These gadgets come with a location tracking feature, thus allowing residents to move freely within designated areas indoor and outdoor areas. Caregivers are also able to locate patients with room-level accuracy.

The use of nurse call systems also promotes the safety of a senior care home. Residents can easily call a caregiver when they suspect a medical emergency or need help with something. This means that caregivers can respond promptly, saving a life and preventing a situation from escalating.

Families of residents are also at peace knowing that their relatives are well-taken care of and can easily communicate their needs to caregivers.

4. Increased Satisfaction

Residents, their families, and caregivers all enjoy the benefits of implementing a reliable nurse call system within a senior care facility. Here’s what are the advantages of nurse calling system:

• Staff enjoy the streamlined workflow that nurse call systems introduce to the facility
• Call center management can access critical data such as response rates call volumes and the efficiency of a nurse call system. With these insights, they can improve on aspects that need more attention.
• Residents enjoy a faster response time which makes them feel valued and secure in their needs being met with dignity.
• Modern nurse call systems, especially wireless nurse call systems cause little interference within a senior care facility. They do not cause constant disruptions or the need for loudspeaker announcements at each patient’s request. This ensures that residents can enjoy their peace within the facility, and those seeking help can remain dignified throughout the process. This improves their satisfaction levels.
• Families have peace of mind in knowing that their loved ones are in the hands of caring caregivers who they can reach the press of a button

Higher levels of satisfaction across your senior care facilities will attract more customers and employees who would love to be associated with a caring facility.

5. Reduced Caregiver Fatigue

Alarm fatigue occurs when caregivers are exposed to a sensory overload from all the alarms going off during the day. The nurse call alarm can be overwhelming and in excess, caregivers become desensitized and unresponsive to these alarms.

To reduce alarm fatigue nurse call systems, have prioritization techniques and medical alert systems that allow nurses to attend to patient requests based on priority. For example, a resident who is having a heart attack will be attended as a top priority compared to one who needs a caregiver to accompany them outside for a walk.

Requests can also be directed to the right caregivers without disrupting others. The desk console is the central point where all resident requests are sent. From the desk console, the operator can send requests to the caregivers who are on duty and responsible for certain activities.

Through the master station, the operator can see the caregivers who are presently engaged with other patients, those who are free, and their proximity to the patient. By streamlining this workflow process, nurse call systems effectively reduce caregiver fatigue.

6. Lower Costs

Without an effective nurse call system, your caregivers will spend a lot of their time going from room to room to check whether a resident needs help. This wastes a lot of time for caregivers – time they could have spent on offering better services to residents.

A nurse call system eliminates the need for constant back-and-forth movement as a patient can contact a caregiver when they need help.

In cases of wandering, the nurse can easily track the location of a patient through the real-time location tracking systems that come with wireless nurse call systems for senior care homes.

7. Improved Staff Communication

Nurse call systems in senior care facilities are also used as communication tools between staff. Staff at the desk console will route the relevant patient requests to caregivers who are available to meet the needs of different residents.

In addition, some nurse call systems are designed to streamline workflows at senior care facilities. They achieve this through regular scheduling of rounds which caregivers can make at specific times to check on patients.

With such a system in place, a nurse can attend to residents and check on them from time to time, even if they have not requested any assistance.

Caregivers can also use these systems to request additional help, especially during emergencies. When a resident has an accident or a medical complication, a nurse can easily call for help using the bedside nurse call button in the resident’s room.

Streamlining Communication in Senior Care Facilities

Nurse call systems promote patient safety and satisfaction in senior care facilities. They also streamline workflows and staff communication resulting in higher productivity and patient satisfaction.

Aidbell develops modern wireless nurse call systems that are easy and non-disruptive in senior care facilities. These systems come with location tracking components, emergency pull cords for bathrooms, and caregiver call buttons to help patients and caregivers communicate better within a senior care facility.

Contact us to get started on choosing the best system that works with your facility.