Hospitals Bed Safety Overview in Detail

Any patient admitted to a hospital even for as little as a day, is bound to have to lie down in a bed for them to be treated and operated on or examined by a medical practitioner. Most hospital beds used in hospitals today are modern ones that are equipped with the latest provisions so as to make patient handling easier and more convenient. However, many a time, the modern facilities hospital beds are equipped with end up being a bane for the patient, paving the way to unfortunate accidents.

List of Essential Hospital Bed Safety Hazards Which You Need to Avoid at any Cost

Here are a few safety hazards every practitioner and patient alike should be made aware of:-

1. Fire safety

Modern hospital beds make use of electricity to run. With electricity, there are often electricity induced hazards as well. Electric motors present in the beds often end up overheating and catching fire. Moreover, with the wiring of a dozen kinds running through the modern beds, there is always a risk of short circuits triggering and sparking off fires.

Patients, attendants, and doctors should watch out for any unusual sounds and noises coming from the bed. The bed should be immediately thoroughly examined by an expert for any type of cause of concern.

2. Bed Rail Safety

Bed rails usually protect a patient from falling. However, at times, bed rails do more harm than good. A patient in deep sleep may accidentally roll over the bed rail and fall on the ground, getting gravely injured in the process. Also, patients may accidentally entrap their limbs or clothes in between the bed rails.  Another downside of bedrails is that they often end up entwining the medical apparatus and wires in between them which gets very tricky to unwind.

3. Fall Safety

Patients fall off the hospital beds and stretchers very often. If an already ill person falls off, their condition may deteriorate further. The patient, if not in a condition to walk, must be acquainted with call light use; the call light should be placed well within their reach so that they do not end up falling whilst reaching out for it.  The hospital bed brackets should be kept properly restrained at all points in time. Moreover, it is good practice to keep the hospital bed at a very safe height from the ground whilst the patient is simply resting.

4. Entrapment Safety

Entrapment of different kinds is very likely associated with hospital beds. Care should be taken that the patient does not get entrapped between the rails, under the rails, between the mattress and the rails, between the ends of the rails, between split bed rails and many other such entrapment zones.

5. Home Use

Anybody using a hospital bed for a patient at home should be made aware of all the associated precautions to be followed when handling the patient and making several types of bed adjustments.

Another way such accidents can be curbed is by having attendant guard the patient at all points in time.