How to Request an Assistance Call

What

Assistance calls let caregivers ask for extra help. They can press a single button on their Badge or tap Request assistance in the Nobi Mobile App.

There are four ways to request an assistance call:

Pressing the Badge. The caregiver presses the button on their Badge. The nearest Nobi light or Gateway detects the Badge, which shows Nobi where the caregiver is.
Pressing the Badge after claiming an escalation. The caregiver has claimed a fall escalation or resident call in the Nobi Mobile App. They then press the button on their Badge to ask for more help with it.
Requesting assistance in the Nobi Mobile App. The caregiver taps Request assistance on the home screen, then chooses the location and the cause.
Requesting assistance in the Nobi Mobile App after claiming an escalation. The caregiver has claimed a fall escalation or resident call in the Nobi Mobile App. They then tap Assistance on that escalation and choose the cause. The location comes from the escalation.

Ways 1 and 2 are Badge-triggered assistance calls. Ways 3 and 4 are app-triggered assistance calls.

Each way of requesting an assistance call has its own priority level. The priority shows colleagues how urgent the assistance call is:

Critical: pressing the Badge after claiming an escalation
Normal: requesting assistance in the Nobi Mobile App after claiming an escalation
Low: pressing the Badge, or requesting assistance from the home screen of the Nobi Mobile App, without being assigned to an escalation

This means that an assistance call made while you are assigned to an escalation gets a higher priority than one that is not tied to an escalation.

The color of the card shows the priority:

Critical: a red card with white text
Normal: a white card with an orange border
Low: a white card with a blue border

With the Badge, an assistance call requested during another escalation is a red card. With the Nobi Mobile App, it is a white card with an orange border. An assistance call requested on its own is a white card with a blue border.

Ways 2 and 4 start from an escalation claimed in the Nobi Mobile App. This needs Escalations via Nobi Mobile App to be turned on.

Requesting assistance in the Nobi Mobile App is not the same as Escalations via Nobi Mobile App. Escalations via Nobi Mobile App is how Nobi alerts care staff about an escalation. Requesting assistance is how a caregiver starts an assistance call from the app.

With one press on the Badge, Nobi sends a request for help. All caregivers signed in to the Nobi Mobile App in that working area receive it right away. For Badge-triggered assistance calls, the nearest Nobi light or Gateway detects the Badge. This shows Nobi where the caregiver is and who started the assistance call.

When assistance is requested in the Nobi Mobile App, the caregiver chooses the location and the cause themselves. No Badge is needed. From the home screen, they choose where they need help and the cause. From an escalation they have already claimed, they only choose the cause.

An app-triggered assistance call works like a Badge-triggered one. Colleagues receive it, claim it with On my way, and close it in the same way. The main differences are:

The location is chosen, not detected. The caregiver picks the housing unit or room, and the assistance call shows that exact location. A Badge-triggered assistance call says “Near” a room, because it uses the nearest Nobi light or Gateway.
The cause is given up front. The caregiver picks a cause when requesting help. No one has to enter it again when closing the assistance call.
It can always be closed remotely. An app-triggered assistance call is not linked to a Badge. There is no Badge to scan to close it in person. It can be closed from the app or the web application, whatever the Close remotely preference says.

Caregivers can request an assistance call at any time, including while they are already helping a resident or responding to an ongoing escalation. Whether a caregiver is helping after a fall, supporting a resident during a transfer, or handling a task that is not about a resident, Nobi alerts nearby colleagues right away through the Nobi Mobile App or a phone call from Nobi.

Each assistance call is a separate escalation. On both the Nobi Mobile App and the web application, assistance calls appear in a separate section called Personal & communal calls. This section appears automatically when there is a person-based escalation, such as a wearable call or a Badge-triggered assistance call. It also shows escalations from common areas, for example a fall escalation in a shared living room. This is different from escalations tied to a housing unit, such as fall escalations and resident calls from a peripheral paired to the Nobi light. Those show on the card of the housing unit where they happened. When an assistance call is requested during an ongoing escalation, a color code shows that the two escalations are related: a red card (Badge) or a white card with an orange border (Nobi Mobile App). See the detailed steps below.

Why

Care situations often change while they are happening. A caregiver may already be supporting a resident after a fall, during a transfer, or during another task when they realize they need extra help.

Without a quick way to ask for backup, the caregiver may need to step away, look for a colleague, or make a phone call. This interrupts care and can put the resident at greater risk.

Assistance calls let caregivers ask for help right away while staying with the resident. This shortens response time, improves teamwork between staff, and supports safer care when more than one caregiver is needed.

Not every caregiver carries a Badge, and some communities don’t use Badges at all. Requesting assistance in the app means anyone signed in to the Nobi Mobile App can call a colleague, with or without a Badge.

The caregiver chooses the location and the cause. This means the colleague who responds knows where to go and what to expect before they arrive. The cause is also recorded on the escalation, which builds useful insight into why extra help is needed.

Before you start

The Request assistance button appears on the home screen of the Nobi Mobile App when:

You are signed in on a mobile device with a care role (care staff or manager).
At least one active escalation cause exists for assistance calls. A manager can add causes in the Causes tab of Escalation flow. Add causes both with a resident and without one. This way, caregivers always have a cause to pick.
Requesting assistance in the Nobi Mobile App is turned on for your community.

If you don’t see the Request assistance button and the first two points are met, contact Nobi Support to have assistance calls in the Nobi Mobile App turned on for your community.

You can only have one open assistance call at a time. While your assistance call is open, the Request assistance button is disabled. You cannot tap it until your open assistance call is closed.

You can also request assistance from an escalation you have claimed, such as a fall escalation or resident call, with the Assistance button on the escalation. The Request assistance button on the home screen stays available while you are assigned to an escalation. From there, you choose the location yourself. The assistance call is a separate escalation, linked to the escalation you are assigned to.

Detailed steps

Follow the steps below to understand how assistance calls alert team members. Please note: if the Escalations via Nobi Mobile App feature is not turned on, Nobi calls the first phone number in the escalation procedure.

On the Nobi Mobile App

Requesting assistance with your Badge

Press the button on your Badge.
The nearest Nobi light or Gateway detects your Badge. This shows Nobi where you are and who started the assistance call.
All caregivers signed in to the Nobi Mobile App in that working area receive a white card with a blue border. The assistance call says “Near” the room closest to you.

Requesting assistance during an escalation using the Escalations via Nobi Mobile App feature

If a caregiver has claimed a fall escalation or resident call in the Nobi Mobile App, they can ask for extra help. They press the button on their Badge, or tap Assistance on the escalation in the Nobi Mobile App. All caregivers signed in to the Nobi Mobile App in that working area then receive the assistance call.
The fall escalation or resident call and the assistance call appear as two separate escalations. The assistance call linked to the ongoing escalation is a red card when requested with the Badge, and a white card with an orange border when requested in the Nobi Mobile App.

Requesting assistance from the home screen

On the home screen of the Nobi Mobile App, tap Request assistance.
On the Where do you need assistance? screen, choose the location. Only rooms with a Nobi light or Gateway are listed, sorted by housing unit from A to Z. Each row shows the room, its housing unit, and its current residents, or Common area if no resident lives there.
On the What is the cause? screen, choose whether your request is about a resident:
- Related to a resident
- Not related to a resident
Select the cause from the list. The list only shows the causes that match your choice. If none have been set up, a message asks a manager to add them on the escalation causes configuration page.
Tap Request assistance to send the assistance call. The button stays disabled until you have selected a cause. Tap Cancel to stop without sending anything, or use the back arrow to go back to the previous step.

You return to the home screen. The new assistance call shows its location and cause. The Request assistance button is disabled until the assistance call is closed.

When a caregiver requests assistance in the Nobi Mobile App, all caregivers signed in to the Nobi Mobile App in that working area receive it, except the caregiver who requested it. The assistance call shows who needs help, the chosen location and the cause.

If you choose Related to a resident and the room has exactly one resident, Nobi links that resident to the assistance call. If the room has several residents, or none, no resident is linked. You will be asked to choose one when the assistance call is closed.

Requesting assistance from an escalation you have claimed

Open the escalation you have claimed in the Nobi Mobile App.
Tap Assistance. If you are calling the resident through the light, the cause screen opens on top of the call and the call keeps running.
Select the cause. You don’t need to choose a location, because it comes from the escalation. If the escalation already names a resident, or the room has only one resident, the request is always about that resident, and only causes related to a resident are shown. Otherwise, first choose Related to a resident or Not related to a resident.
Tap Request assistance to send the assistance call.

Your colleagues receive the assistance call for the location of your escalation. The Assistance button is not available while you still have an open assistance call.

Requesting assistance in the same place as another escalation

An assistance call and another escalation in the same room or common area, such as a fall escalation, stay two separate escalations. They are not merged. A fall escalation belongs to the place where the fall was detected. An assistance call belongs to the caregiver who requested it. Each one is claimed and closed on its own.

Pressing your Badge while an app-triggered assistance call is open

If you press your Badge while you already have an open app-triggered assistance call, Nobi doesn’t create a second assistance call. The Badge press is added to your existing assistance call. If the Badge press has a higher priority, Nobi raises the priority of your assistance call. For example, if you are assigned to an escalation when you press your Badge, the assistance call becomes Critical.

To claim and close an assistance call, see How to Receive Escalations via Nobi Mobile App and How to Close an Escalation.

Learn more about the other different types of Nobi escalations below: