1.
Descriptive, not binary
New linens, increased pain, a question for the doctor. Not just on or off.
Call bells that tell nurses
what's needed.
Patients make specific requests from a mobile app; staff respond on a dashboard at the nurse station.
Nurse station · West 4
Requests
Live Room Request Status Wait
412 · A Water Waiting 0m
409 · B Pain Seen 2m
414 · A Repositioning Waiting 3m
410 · B Medication Seen 5m
4 active · 0 overdue Auto-refresh 15s
Not for emergencies · Call 911
What do you need?
Pain
Water
Bathroom
Medication
Linens
Doctor
Your requests
Water Sent
Pain Done
Example dashboard.
In place today
Audited database access
TLS 1.2+ in transit
AES-256 at rest
Why BetterBell
A call bell with context.
The physical call bell answers one question, is someone calling?, and leaves staff to guess the rest. BetterBell replaces the button with a short, structured request, so the answer is already on the dashboard by the time a nurse walks down the hall.
2.
Nurses arrive prepared
The right supplies on the first visit. Less time in the hallway.
3.
Logged for improvement
Every request is timestamped. Patterns surface, not hidden in a button.
How it works
Three surfaces.
One signal.
-
01
The patient makes a specific request.
New linens. Increased pain. Wants to speak to a doctor. The app offers a short, structured list developed with a physician overseeing the pilot and refined through bedside observation. Not a single ambiguous button.
Not for emergencies · Call 911
What do you need?
PainWaterBathroomMedicationLinensDoctorYour requests
Water SentPain Done -
02
Staff see every request on the floor.
A single dashboard at the nurse station shows live requests, filterable by floor and request type, with an audible alert on new requests. Minimum PHI exposure: room and request, never a chart.
West 4 · 8 bedsRequests
LiveRoom Request Status Wait412 · A Water Waiting 0m409 · B Pain Seen 2m414 · A Repositioning Waiting 3m410 · B Medication Seen 5m4 active · 0 overdue Auto-refresh 15s -
03
Every request is timestamped and logged.
A six-year audit trail. Aggregate response-time trends and request-type frequencies become data you can review and act on. Reported at the floor level, never per individual staff member.
Trends · last 30 days
West 4 · de-identifiedAvg response
1m 12s
Requests
248
By request type
806040200WaterPainBathroomMedicationLinensDoctor
Scope
What BetterBell is, and isn't.
BetterBell is the patient's primary signaling surface. The physical call button stays in place as a fallback for patients who don't have a phone, don't want to use one, or aren't able to operate it. BetterBell carries the bulk of routine requests, with richer information for staff.
In facility deployment, BetterBell is designed to run alongside existing nurse-call systems (Rauland, Hill-Rom, Ascom, and others) without modification to that infrastructure. BetterBell carries routine, descriptive requests; existing call systems continue to carry alarms, code calls, and safety alerts.
Development & Compliance
Where we stand today.
Development
BetterBell is in active development. We are targeting an MVP by end of August 2026 and are pursuing a clinical quality-improvement pilot, with the goal of expanding to facility deployment after that.
Compliance
BetterBell is built toward HIPAA compliance. We are not yet fully compliant, and we will not handle real patient data until the gates below close.
In place today
- Database access
- Audited per query
- Transport
- TLS 1.2+
- At rest
- AES-256
- Platform
- Aptible (HIPAA-focused PaaS)
Pending, before any real patient data
- Business Associate Agreement
- Production-plan upgrade
- Parts of the application still under development
Contact
Get in touch.
We'd like to hear from you.
We're open to conversations with administrators, clinical leads, researchers, and anyone thinking about how their facility handles patient signaling. Notes get a reply from a real person, usually within two business days.
ayan@betterbell.care