Patent ID: 8612248

Claim:
A healthcare communication system comprising: a patient terminal comprising a keyboard unit having message keys for generating different ones of a plurality of programmed messages and alphanumeric keys for composing messages, wherein said patient terminal is communicatively linked to a patient terminal display for presenting said plurality of programmed messages and composed messages, each said message key having a surface portion and unique identifying indicia disposed on the surface portion and corresponding to a particular programmed patient message that is transmitted over the communication system after a patient selects said message key, the identifying indicia symbolically indicating a type of the particular programmed message; a memory communicatively linked to the patient terminal for storing the programmed messages, wherein the plurality of programmed messages include at least one patient-specific message composed by a patient or other person using the keyboard unit, wherein the at least patient-specific message is associated with one of the message keys, defining an activation key, to enable the patient to send the message by pressing the activation key, and wherein the at least one patient-specific message can be sent by the patient to a patient-directed destination by the patient pressing one or more other message keys, defining destination keys; a visitor station remotely located from and communicatively linked to the patient terminal, wherein the system is configured to convey visitor messages from the patient to a visitor and to convey visitor messages to the patient from the visitor; a nurse station remotely located from and communicatively linked to the patient terminal for receiving assistance messages from the patient; and a patient-door display communicatively linked to the patient terminal for displaying a care-giver notice when an associated message key is pressed by the patient.