A patient support apparatus, such as a bed, stretcher, cot, operating table, chair, or the like, includes a support surface for an occupant, a user interface, and a control system. The user interface includes multiple sensing layers to detect when a user touches the user interface. The control system activates only a first one of the sensing layers when the patient support apparatus is in a sleep mode, and upon the first sensing layer detecting a user touching the user interface while in the sleep mode, the control system activates that second sensing layer. One of the sensing layers may be resistive and the other capacitive. One of the layers may also detect a position at which the user touches the user interface, while the other layer may only detect that the user interface was touched, but not detect the position of the touch.