A healthcare communication system includes a first plurality of computer devices, such as patient stations, staff stations, and a master station, that are operable as a nurse call system. The first plurality of computer devices may have core nurse call functionality residing on an embedded computing platform. At least one of the first plurality of computer devices may have a graphical display screen. A second plurality of computer devices may be operable to provide the first plurality of computer devices with additional functionality via software plug-ins that are transmitted to the first plurality of computer devices. The first plurality of computer devices may be interconnected logically and/or physically in a tiered architecture arrangement to provide fault isolation among the tiers so that faults occurring in computer devices of one tier don't affect the operability of computer devices in other tiers and so that faults occurring in any of the second plurality of computer devices don't affect the core nurse call functionality of the first plurality of computer devices.