Nurse Call and Emergency Call Systems 

Nurse call systems or Emergency call systems have been used in hospitals, assisted living facilities, and in people's personal homes for many years.  In any environment, the functionality and dependability of the emergency call system is critical to protecting the health of the patient or person.  In the U.S. regulatory system, Emergency call systems are considered non-medical devices and are subject to distinct standards that address their critical functions.  Manufacturers continue to improve these devices and innovate the way healthcare providers and other care givers access the systems, offering more options and introducing additional safety and functionality concerns.

Emergency call systems standards for the U.S.:

UL 1069 "Hospital Signaling and Nurse Call Equipment" - This standard applies to the traditional equipment found in the hospital environment.  More and more, with wireless technologies, these systems also require interoperability and interference reliability testing to demonstrate they will continue to function in the noisy environments often found in acute care situations.

UL 1637 "Home Health Care Signaling Equipment"   - This standard applies to Emergency call systems typically used in people's homes to signal when there is a problem.

UL 2560 "Emergency Call Systems for Assisted Living and Independent Living Facilities" - Introduced in 2011, the UL 2560 standard was driven by industry to address the special environmental challenges outside of a hospital, but within close proximity to healthcare providers. 

Benefits of using UL:

• UL experts published all the Emergency call standards and have specific knowledge of the intent behind the standards.
• UL experts can provide integrated test plans to meet two or more standards concurrently, minimizing redundant testing and saving time.
• A certification mark from UL can be used to demonstrate to consumers, healthcare providers and AHJs that your latest technologies will function as needed.

Resources:

• *NEW* UL 1069 and UL 2560 Comparison tool.  Click here to download (registration required)
• UL White Paper "UL 2560 and Emergency Call Systems:  Expanding the Standards Framework." Click here to download.