For nurses, unit managers and ward maintenance. The Edge Node is the small box on your ward that turns a call point press into a corridor light, a card on the ward display and a message on staff phones. It runs on the ward's own network, keeps working if the internet or the head‑end is down, and never silences an emergency.
What happens when a call is made
- Within about a second of a call point being activated: the over‑door / corridor light comes on, the ward display shows the call, and a message goes to staff phones (Olinqua or Ascom). A corridor tone sounds unless the ward is in quiet hours.
- Calls are colour‑coded on the display: Emergency — red (flashing, always audible) · Assist — yellow · Call — green · Presence — blue · Fault — amber · Isolation — red.
- The timer on each card shows how long the call has been waiting. A +1 / +2 next to the call type means it has been re‑sent to phones because it wasn't answered in time.
- If the phone system doesn't acknowledge a message, the node re‑sends it automatically (up to four times). Long‑running calls are re‑sent at the interval your ward has set.
- Cancelling the call at the point turns the light off, clears the card and sends a "CLEARED" message to phones.
Reading the ward display
- Idle: the clock, the date and "No active calls" with a small green dot top‑right. Green dot = the display is talking to the node.
- Active calls: one card per call, colour by type, with the room/bed name and the waiting time. An emergency card flashes red.
- ISOLATED badge in the header: the ward isolation switch is on (see below).
- Red dot or a LINK LOST panel: the display has lost contact with the node. Calls still work — lights, phones and the node itself are unaffected — but tell maintenance so the display is restored.
- The display is a plain web page: any browser on the ward network can open it (your maintenance team has the address), including a phone or tablet in portrait.
Quiet hours (Silent Hospital)
- During quiet hours (typically 22:00–06:00) routine corridor tones are silenced so patients can sleep. Lights, the display and phone messages all continue — the call still reaches the right person.
- Emergency calls are always audible. A quiet ward is never a silent emergency.
- It fails safe. The ward is only silenced while the link to staff phones is proven to be working. If that link drops, corridor tones come back by themselves — that is deliberate, so a call can never fall between a silent corridor and a dead pager.
- Rest period (manual quiet): on the node's home page, "Start quiet mode" silences routine tones for up to 12 hours and restores automatically; press it again to end early. Emergencies still sound.
- Tones sounding during quiet hours? Either an emergency is active, or the phone messaging link is down (the display's connection dot and the Messaging page will show it). Report it — don't try to silence it.
Ward isolation
- If your ward has an isolation switch wired to the node, turning it on marks the display ISOLATED (and can light an indicator). Calls keep working exactly as before; it is a visual flag for infection‑control or closed‑ward status.
Start‑of‑shift check (30 seconds)
- Ward display shows the correct time, "No active calls" and a green dot.
- The node's light is steady blue.
- If your local procedure includes it, raise and cancel one test call and confirm the light, the display card and the phone message.
If something isn't right
- Display blank, or red dot / LINK LOST — the display or its network is down. Calls, lights and phones still work. Tell maintenance.
- Phones aren't getting messages — the messaging link is down. Calls still show on lights and the display, and corridor tones will not silence while it's down. Tell maintenance (Messaging page shows "fault").
- A corridor tone won't stop — an emergency is active (cancel it at the point), or the audio relay needs attention. If no call is showing, tell maintenance.
- A call won't clear — cancel at the call point. If it stays on the display, tell maintenance. Don't power‑cycle the node to clear it; the call will simply be raised again when it restarts (that's by design).
- Node light is amber or off — tell maintenance.
- Never hold the small button on the node. Holding it for 10 seconds resets the unit to factory settings and wipes the ward's configuration. (Maintenance use only.)
What the node never does
- It never silences an emergency.
- It never silences the ward unless the phone link is proven working.
- It never needs the internet — everything above works on the ward network alone.
- It doesn't store patient records; it knows room names, call types and times.
Who to call, and what to tell them
Your maintenance / biomedical team or your Southerly partner. Give them: the ward and node name, the time, what the display showed (card colour, room, timer, any badge or dot), and which call point. The node keeps its own event log, so the time is the most useful thing you can give.
For maintenance and installers
The installer's commissioning checklist (network, inputs, routing, messaging, displays, quiet hours, firmware, recovery) and the clinical‑messaging (TAP) setup are published separately on the Docs page.
Common questions
Does the nurse call still work if the network goes down?
Yes. Call points, over-door lights and the node's relays keep working with no network at all. Phone messages and the ward display need the network and come back when it returns, and any call still active is raised again automatically.
Why are corridor tones sounding during quiet hours?
Either an emergency call is active — emergencies are always audible — or the link to staff phones is down. Quiet hours only silence the ward while that link is proven working. That is a safety design, not a fault in the schedule.
What do the colours on the ward display mean?
Flashing red is Emergency, yellow is Assist, green is Call, blue is Presence, amber is Fault and red is Isolation. The timer shows how long the call has waited; a +1 or +2 means it was re-sent to phones.
The display shows LINK LOST or a red dot — is the nurse call down?
No. The display has lost contact with the node; calls, lights and phone messages continue. Report it so the display is restored.
Can an emergency call ever be silenced?
No. Emergency calls are always audible — during quiet hours, during a manual rest period, and regardless of the state of the messaging link.