You are designing a nurse call system for a health care facility. The system will have emergency call switches. What is the first step you should take in designing the nurse call system?

Sizing the TR to accommodate the headend system is a later design step that depends on the output of the risk assessment defining the scope and quantity of devices.

Programming the headend device occurs during installation and commissioning, which comes after the design phase is fully complete.

A risk assessment is the mandatory first step because it evaluates patient vulnerability, clinical workflows, and regulatory compliance requirements to establish where emergency call devices must be placed. Without this assessment, subsequent design decisions - such as headend sizing, pathway routing, and device programming - lack the clinical and safety foundation required by standards such as NFPA 101 and BICSI TDMM healthcare guidelines. The risk assessment drives every downstream design and infrastructure decision.

A site survey to verify pathways is an important step but occurs after the risk assessment has defined the locations and quantities of devices that need to be connected.