Free printable hospital communication board

A hospital room is a hard place to be without a voice. The questions come fast, the faces change every shift, and the call button can say that someone needs something but not what. This free board is one page made for that room: the words people need from a hospital bed, in large squares, for the person in the bed to point to and for family and staff to point to as they ask.

What's in the free file

• One page, 16 large squares, one picture and a word or short phrase in each, four rows of four.
• The answers first. The top row is Yes, No, Wait, please and Help.
• The words of a hospital room: Nurse, Pain, Medicine, Bathroom, Water, I feel sick, Tired, Too hot, Too cold, Turn me, please, My family and Quiet, please.
• A line at the top: "Keep the call button in reach too." The board is for talking with whoever is in the room. It does not call anyone.
• Large squares and large print. Each square is about 1.7 by 1.6 inches (43 by 41 mm), and the words are bold, 18 to 20 point.
• Pictures of adults, drafted with AI image tools and curated by us. They are the same pictures as in our full Hospital Stay Picture Board, with the people shown in one skin tone; the full set has five.
• Sizes: US Letter and A4, as two files. The squares print the same size on both papers.

What is each square for?

The 16 squares, and what a person can say with each one

The 16 squares are the 20 of our full hospital board less four (Hungry, Blanket, Phone call and Lights off), with the same pictures and words, so the full set looks familiar.

Hospital board or home board?

A board for a hospital bed has a different job from a board at home.

Our free basic needs board sits between the two: 20 squares for the bedside, with an about me sign to tape above the bed. For the weeks after a stroke, at the hospital and at home, see our guide to communication boards after a stroke.

Who uses a hospital communication board?

• Someone with a breathing tube. The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute puts it plainly: with a breathing tube, a person will not be able to eat or talk. Some are awake and can still answer by nodding, blinking, pointing or writing, and a board gives those answers somewhere to go.
• Someone with a trach tube. The same NHLBI page says some people with a trach tube can talk with a special device. A board covers the time before that, and any time the device is not in use.
• After a stroke, when words are hard to find, say or understand.
• After surgery on the mouth, jaw or throat, or with a throat too sore or dry to talk.
• When the person is too weak or too tired to talk, or can't be heard over the machines.

A board does not replace an interpreter. If the person's first language is not English, ask the nurse for one.

How to set up the board in a hospital room

1. Print two copies at "Actual size", not "Fit to page". One goes on the bed; the other stays in your bag as a spare.
2. Protect it. Slide it into a sheet protector or laminate it, and ask the nurse how the unit wants it cleaned. In an isolation room, ask whether a paper copy can stay in the room and be thrown away at discharge.
3. Clip it to the bed rail or tape it to the over-bed table, on the side of the hand that works best, and move it when the table is wheeled away for meals or tests.
4. Keep the call button next to it. The board talks to people in the room. The call button is how the person reaches the nurse when nobody is there.
5. Agree on a yes and no signal, and post it. The PPC Network (patientprovidercommunication.org), which shares free bedside boards for hospitals, suggests a clear signal (a nod and a head shake, a thumb up and a closed fist, a blink) and a sign so every member of staff knows it.
6. Keep glasses and hearing aids in a labeled case on the table. They go missing in hospital rooms, and the board is hard to read without them.
7. Tell each new nurse about the board at shift change if you are there, and ask whether it can be added to the care notes.

How do staff and family use it together?

Our free basic needs board page has the step-by-step guide to using a board at the bedside: pointing as you ask, one yes or no question at a time, checking back. Three things are different in a hospital room.

1. Everyone points the same way. The PPC Network describes staff pointing to pictures on a board while they ask about needs. Show each new nurse or aide how the person answers, so the next shift doesn't start from nothing.
2. The answer goes to the right person. When the person points to Nurse, Pain or Bathroom and the nurse is not in the room, the call button or a family member carries the message, and says which square they pointed to.
3. Writing is a second channel. If the person can hold a pen, a small dry-erase board lets them write back; the PPC Network suggests a pillow under the arm or a lap tray for support. If pointing is hard, our stroke communication board guide explains partner-assisted scanning, row by row.

What should you pack for a hospital stay?

• Two copies of the board, in sheet protectors.
• A clipboard or a large binder clip.
• A pad and a thick pen, or a small whiteboard and a dry-erase marker.
• Glasses and hearing aids, with spare batteries, in a case with the person's name on it.
• A sign for above the bed with the person's name, what they like to be called and their yes and no signal. The about me sign in our free basic needs board has these lines.
• An alphabet page, if the person can spell. Our communication boards hub has a free yes, no and alphabet board.

What the board is not

It is a page of pictures. It does not call the nurse, it does not replace an interpreter, and it is not a pain scale: when someone points to Pain, the nurse asks how much, on the scale the hospital uses. Questions about breathing tubes, swallowing or speech belong with the care team. If the unit has a speech-language pathologist, ask what the team already uses, and bring this board to that conversation.

Our full Hospital Stay Picture Board adds the 20-picture board, a bigger 12-picture board, the board in black and white, a 0 to 10 pain scale, a body outline front and back, 12 words for kinds of pain, letters and numbers with space to write a message, an About me sign for the tray table, 20 spare cards (call button, bed up, bed down, glasses, hearing aid, dentures and more), a blank board, and the boards and spare cards in five skin tones.

Frequently asked questions

What is a hospital communication board?

A hospital communication board is a printed page of pictures and words that a person points to when talking is hard during a hospital stay, for example with a breathing tube or after a stroke. Ours has 16 large squares, from Yes and No to Nurse, Bathroom and Turn me, please.

How do you communicate with someone who has a breathing tube?

A person with a breathing tube can't talk, but many can nod, blink, point or write. Agree on a yes and no signal, ask one yes or no question at a time, point to pictures on a board as you ask, and offer a pen or a small whiteboard if they can write. Ask the nurse what the unit already uses.

Do hospitals have communication boards?

Some units keep boards, and a hospital speech-language pathologist may bring one. If there isn't one to hand, you can print your own: the PPC Network and the University of North Carolina share free bedside boards, and ours is free in US Letter and A4.

Does a communication board replace the call button?

No. The board is for talking with someone who is already in the room. The call button is how the person reaches the nurse when nobody is there, so keep both within reach, on the same side of the bed.

Where can I get a free hospital communication board?

Doctor Carissa's free hospital board is a one-page PDF in US Letter and A4, sent by email: 16 squares with pictures of adults and large words. The PPC Network shares free bedside boards in English and in other languages, and the University of North Carolina shares one in English and Spanish.