Caregiver assistance system

A patient support apparatus system comprising a plurality of patient support apparatuses, a server, and a mobile electronic device;

• wherein each of the patient support apparatuses comprise:
• a litter frame;
• a support deck supported on the litter frame and configured to support a patient thereon;
• a memory containing a unique identifier uniquely identifying the patient support apparatus;
• an alert subsystem adapted to issue an aural alert in response to an alert condition being detected onboard the patient support apparatus;
• an ultrasonic transmitter;
• a first network transceiver adapted to communicate with the server;
• a controller in communication with the memory and the first network transceiver, the controller adapted to transmit a first network message containing the unique identifier to the server using the first network transceiver and to transmit an ultrasonic message containing the unique identifier to the mobile electronic device using the ultrasonic transmitter;
• wherein the mobile electronic device is adapted to receive the ultrasonic message and forward the unique identifier contained within the ultrasonic message to the server in a second network message using a second network transceiver integrated into the mobile electronic device;
• wherein the server is adapted to select a particular patient support apparatus from amongst the plurality of patient support apparatuses having the same unique identifier as the unique identifier received in the second network message, the server further adapted to automatically send a volume control message to the particular patient support apparatus in response to receiving the second network message;
• and
• wherein the controller of the particular patient support apparatus is adapted to automatically reduce a volume level of the aural alert in response to receiving the volume control message.