Precautions And Patient Care:
1. Make sure the bed is safe and meets the safety guidelines issued by the FDA.
2. Have someone be with the patient if needed.
3. Keep the bed, linen, and the surroundings clean and disinfected.
4. Keep the medical information, patient’s medical history and doctor’s contact numbers handy for emergency use, if need be.
5. Provide a way to the patient to call for help – to call a nurse or even 911.
6. Keep the patient cheerful – to mitigate the risk of patient harming himself/herself.
7. Provide access to some form of entertainment or reading so that the patient can pass time more comfortably.
8. If the bed is high and the height cannot be adjusted, arrange for a firm footed steps to help the patient get on or off the bed.
Risks associated with Hospital beds:
The biggest risk with hospital beds is of patient death or injury from entrapment in the openings and gaps in hospital bed systems. There are tens of incidents of patients getting caught, trapped, entagled or strangled in hospital beds.
The beds should meet the dimensional guidelines issued by the FDA to minimize the risk of entrapment.
