Patient support apparatuses with nurse call connection detection

Abstract

A patient support apparatus includes a frame, a patient support surface, and a nurse call cable interface adapted to communicatively couple to a wall-mounted nurse call outlet having a plurality of pins to thereby allow the patient to communicate with a remotely positioned nurse. One or more sensors are included that detect when the cable is plugged into the nurse call outlet and/or when the bed is communicatively coupled to the nurse call system. The controller may activate an indicator when the sensor detects that the bed is not coupled to the nurse call system outlet, automatically select whether to communicate with the nurse call system via a wireless transceiver or via the nurse call cable interface based on the sensor output, and/or inform the caregiver when a headwall module spaced from the bed is not communicatively coupled to the nurse call system outlet.