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I see a patient in a nursing facility with advanced MS. She currently is only able to move her head to use her call light button. The problem is that her call light will not stay positioned so that she can utilize is when she needs to. I have spoken with the nursing facility about this and they have made attempts to correct the problem but the button still slides down. She has used two different types of lights. One is a wedge-shaped button and the other a circular pad that the patient presses her chin against to turn on the light.

Anyone have any suggestions for a better way to do this?

Thank you,
Rick

ricksmithmsw wrote:I see a patient in a nursing facility with advanced MS. She currently is only able to move her head to use her call light button. The problem is that her call light will not stay positioned so that she can utilize is when she needs to. I have spoken with the nursing facility about this and they have made attempts to correct the problem but the button still slides down. She has used two different types of lights. One is a wedge-shaped button and the other a circular pad that the patient presses her chin against to turn on the light.

Anyone have any suggestions for a better way to do this?

Thank you,
Rick

Can her call light button be affixed to her sheet or pillow or even under her chin itself (if she does not object) with a strip of double-sided tape?

After further thought… I know there are speech-recognition programs for computers… If your patient can speak, maybe there is some way to use this technology to turn on her call light button. I am "technologically challenged" and don't know how this would be done; perhaps a student at a nearby university could work out the details.

And thinking further… Is there any kind of baby monitor (camera/monitor or audio alone) that could transmit from her room to a nurses' station? Maybe there is one that is voice activated.

lyndacarol wrote:Can her call light button be affixed to her sheet or pillow or even under her chin itself (if she does not object) with a strip of double-sided tape?

I was going to suggest using velcro to fix it to her pillow.

The nursing home has used a strap with clips on both ends to attach around the patient's neck but somehow this is not working as well. We were able to find a call button on a website that allows the user to "sip" or "puff" into the device and another that allows the user to "puff" or "bite" down on the device to call for help. I am not sure how this will go. I sent the information to the facility for review.

In the meantime I appreciate your suggestions and I will suggest these things to the facility as well.