Hospital bed is a necessity for those have restrictions of movement due to age or injury. A hospital bed allows to configure itself in many positions to make the patient feel as comfortable as possible. There are several kinds of hospital beds available. Most often, the hospital beds are categorized as:
- Manual
- Semi-electric
- Full Electric.
If you are looking for a hospital bed, in case you have a need for a home care setup, it is easy to get overwhelmed with the choices available.
The following list of questions that you can ask yourself can help deciding the kind of bed you really need and save some money and stress (which would already be high in this kind of a situation).
1. What is the age of the patient?
If the patient is a child, you can use a hospital bed of a smaller size and dimensions. A small twin bed may suffice for a child where as a grown up person would at least need a bed of full size.
Normally, the hospital beds are designed to cater to patients of all weights and sizes, but it would be good to ask about the bed frame requirements for the patient in mind.
2. What is the condition of the patient?
If the patient needs assistance with all types of movement and getting on or off the hospital bed, you would need to look for a bed that is adjustable in height also. Senior people may need additional railings for assistance for example.
3. What height of the bed would be the best for the patient?
If the hospital bed you need does not need height adjustments, you might want to consider what height would be optimum to choose. Neither very high or a very low height of the bed is helpful for the patient to get on or off the bed or for the person who is attending to the patient’s needs. Depending on the height of the patient, you would need to decide the optimum height of the bed.
4. Would you need to change the location of the bed and how often?
Most beds would have coasters and brake locks. If you think you would need to or would like to relocate the bed sometimes, it is a good idea to go with a bed with large rubber wheels and brake locks to avoid accidents.
5. Would the bed be staffed? Would someone be around to help the patient?
If the bed is not to be staffed by a professional nurse and if the patient is left alone to attend to his/her needs, an automatic electric bed can help to lower or raise the height or to change positions by the patient using a remote control.
Electric beds also help the person who is attending to the patient. It might be easy to raise the head using an automatic bed function which can have a smooth movement and no risk of dropping the head back by mistake which can be really harmful and painful to the patient.
6. How often the linen or the lining on the bed would need a change?
If the linen or the lining of the bed would need a change too often, you would need some way to either move the patient on another bed while changing the sheets or move the patient on one side of the bed and change the linen on the other side. You can then roll/scoot the patient back on the clean side and remove the dirty linen. For such kind of methods, you would need a bed that is wide enough so to prevent the patient from falling down to the ground while the sheets are being changed.
7. What is the duration that you might need the bed for?
Many a times, the injury is known to heal up in a certain duration – days, weeks or months. If you know you would not need the hospital bed for a long time, it might be a good idea to rent one. If you need it for some time, you can plan to use it for the patient for however long and then sell the bed off. You would need to do the math to find out what is the most cost effective and least stressful for both you and the patient.
You can also look for an option to buy a used bed if buying a new one is not an option.
8. For how long would the patient be on the bed each day?
If the patient would need to be on the bed continuously or for long hours every day, you would need to get a mattress that suits that purpose. Mattresses with hard springs or those that are too soft may create bed sores on the patient add to the pain thereby making the recovery more difficult.
The mattress on a hospital bed should be able to take the shape of the bed when the hospital bed is adjusted. If the head or the legs section is raised, some mattresses might create uneven folds thereby hurting the patient and making the bed position more uncomfortable than vice versa.
9. Would you need any accessories for the bed?
You might want to ask what kind of accessories you would need with the bed. This is not the complete list, but some to just give you an idea are:
Drip stand
Assist rails
Bed Side rails
Bed Table
Alert systems, Alarms
Entertainment
