Patient support apparatus communication system

A patient support apparatus comprising:

• a support surface adapted to support a patient thereon;
• a nurse call interface adapted to communicatively couple to a multi-pin nurse call cable;
• a control adapted to be activated by at least one of the patient or a caregiver;
• a dynamic label adapted to indicate a first function of the control;
• and
• a controller adapted to change an electrical state of a first pin of the multi-pin nurse call cable in response to activation of the control, the controller further adapted to change the dynamic label to indicate a second function of the control in response to a triggering condition, wherein the second function is different from the first function.

A patient support apparatus comprising:

• a support surface adapted to support a patient thereon;
• a nurse call interface adapted to communicatively couple to a multi-pin nurse call cable;
• a first control adapted to be activated by at least one of the patient or a caregiver in order to carry out a first function;
• a second control adapted to be activated by at least one of the patient or the caregiver in order to carry out a second function different from the first function;
• a controller adapted to change an electrical state of a first pin of the multi-pin nurse call cable in a first manner in response to activation of the first control, the controller further adapted to change the electrical state of the first pin in a second manner in response to activation of the second control, the first manner being different from the second manner.