For those who have recently returned from the hospital or are looking at palliative care in the home, a good investment is a hospital bed. It allows anyone who has spent a period of time in hospital, to be able to return home much quicker than usual and be able to sleep safely.
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Simply put, a hospital bed for home is a specially designed bed that includes a variety of useful features to improve the comfort of the individual and the convenience of the carer.
We have decades of experience when it comes to assisting people in finding the best hospital bed for their needs. We’re here to help you find a comfortable and cost-effective solution. It's important for those who are in recovery to be as comfortable as possible and being in your own home has been proven to help speed recovery.
Firstly, the most important component of a hospital bed is its frame.
It’s essential to ensure that you have a profiling frame that can adjust to a comfortable sleeping and resting position. It needs to be sturdy, to be able to withstand plenty of use, particularly if recovery time is long or you are looking at palliative care.
Secondly, you should ensure the bed has an anti-entrapment mechanism that will sense an obstruction (such as a carer’s hand) and stop the movement of the bed. This is a very important safety feature to avoid any injuries.
Look for additional safety features, such as side rails to help with grip and reduce the chance of a fall from the bed.
As this is a bed specifically for someone in recovery or palliative care, it's extremely important that the bed is easily accessible. The bed needs to be comfortable for the user to get in and out of.
To ensure you choose the right bed, research the adjustable bed mechanisms. There are several types and its important to get your head around these
Hi-Lo Mechanism
This enables the hospital bed to be raised and lowered to help the user get into and out of bed.
Tilting
A tilting mechanism gives you the option to tilt the angle of the bed to help with certain medical conditions such as swollen joints and high blood pressure.
If you feel you don't need these, just make sure you choose a bed that suits the users' needs. A standard adjustable bed could be the answer as this will include the standard five point mechanism.
Hospital beds tend to look fairly medical and can often make the user feel worse. The great news about hospital beds for home is that they don’t have to look like traditional clinical hospital beds. In fact today, hospital beds for home come in a wide variety of styles to suit you and your bedroom.
For example, the Adjust4Sleep Home Care Bed, as seen above, has a fully upholstered surround while maintaining the height adjustment and profiling functionality of a hospital bed. Plus, with a choice of upholstery and optional extras, the Home Care can be fully personalised to suit you and your home.
Regardless of whether it will be the individual using it, or the carer, you should look for a hospital bed for home that has simple to use controls.
On the handset look for large, well-spaced buttons and clear labelling for the different bed functions.
Top tip- Make sure you have a go at using the buttons during your demonstration to ensure you find it simple to use.
Look for a hospital bed for home that can be personalised to your needs and requirements with a variety of optional extras to choose from.
Popular accessories for medical beds include:
Cot sides: These bed rails help to prevent falling out of bed at night.
Reading Lights: Directional lights to help with reading.
Inbuilt drawers: Inbuilt drawers create some useful additional storage space for your bedroom.
Cut out sides: Is there an option to add cut-out sides if you will need to use a hoist to get in and out of bed.
Payment– What is your budget? And have you taken into consideration you will need a new base as well as a specialist mattress? Are you able to pay in instalments? And do you need to put down a deposit? Can you try it before you buy it? Reputable companies should provide a free demonstration where you can experience the bed for yourself.
Check the dimensions– Will the hospital bed fit comfortably in the room, with easy access in and out of the door and around the room?
Installation– Does the company you have chosen to deliver and install the bed, and is there an option to take your old bed away?
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Upkeep- How does the medical need to be maintained and is any servicing recommended?
An electric hospital bed is perfect for people with limited mobility who need a similar level of comfort and mobility to that which is provided by a hospital bed. Profiling hospital beds for home are useful for those needing help sitting up, lying down, staying in bed, or those having difficulty moving, turning, or getting in or out of bed as a result of their surgery.
When beds have full height adjustability, this can also make it a lot easier to get in and out of bed, so you can be less reliant on carers. Adjustable height beds also mean that the bed can be positioned at the best height for wheelchair transfers, or can help lift you from a sitting to a standing position with the minimum of effort, just by pressing the appropriate button on the electronic handset.
Hospital Beds for the home can greatly improve the quality of sleep, which is essential for recovering after surgery, or for those with pre-existing medical conditions.
Another benefit of Medical beds at home is that they make it much easier for the care team too. As they can be adjusted so easily, it prevents the carer from having to get into difficult positions when moving around the bed.
Whatever you decide, ensure that you have conducted proper research before ordering a hospital bed for your home. Try out different beds and see which one can suit. At the Adjustable Bed Factory, we have two beds within our homecare range that can be built for you and fully customised to suit your needs.
Hospital beds are designed and constructed to provide safety, comfort, and mobility for a broad range of patients with varying conditions and treatment plans. While the adaptability and versatility of hospital beds and related safety devices allow caregivers to meet the diverse needs of their patients; care must be taken to ensure necessary user training, inspection protocols, and routine maintenance and safety checks are followed.
Falls are the most common type of incident associated with hospital beds, however pressure injuries and entrapments are also notable safety concerns. In this article, Christian Mongrain, Doctor of Physical Therapy and Durable Medical Equipment Expert, provides an overview of hospital bed injuries and proper safety.
Hospital beds are the most common type of durable medical equipment. Despite their name, hospital beds are also used beyond the acute hospital; namely in rehabilitation facilities, nursing homes, and private residences. Given their prolific use, injuries involving hospital beds are not uncommon. These injuries can occur while a patient is positioned in a stationary bed, being transported in a bed, or being transferred into or out of a bed. In this article, the term ‘patient’ refers to a person receiving care at a health care facility or at a residence, such as a private home or nursing home.
The FDA and the HBSW (Hospital Bed Safety Workshop) have released several informative documents providing guidance for hospital bed safety and strategies for mitigating risks. The Department of Health in several states has chosen to incorporate these documents into their protocol for health care providers.
Hospital bed anatomy & safety features
Bed frame features such as height and position adjustments, casters, and adjustable bed rails distinguish hospital beds from standard beds. Modern hospital beds incorporate a range of safety features that are designed to protect against fall and pressure injuries, assist with patient positioning and mobility, and alert caregivers of a potential mishap. The benefits of these safety features can only be realized through proper training of caregivers and reinforcement of safety protocols.
Patient height, weight, ability to move, diagnosis, and comorbidities must be considered when choosing a hospital bed. After identifying a bed that meets the anthropometric and capacity needs of the patient, providers utilize risk assessment tools (such as the Morse Fall Scale and Braden Risk Assessment Tool) to determine if a patient requires a specialized bed with safety features to assist in preventing falls and/or pressure injuries.
Adjustable settings
Adjustable height settings are a fundamental safety feature of hospital beds. Raising the bed height can reduce the need for patient assistance when standing from a sitting position. Adjusting the bed height can enable a patient to improve balance while seated at the edge of the bed, and lowering the bed height to its lowest height position can reduce the severity of injury in the event of a fall.
Hospital bed frames are usually repositionable in segments. The head of the bed can often be raised independent of the segment of the bed supporting the lower extremities. An additional function enables the knee portion of the bed to be elevated, thereby preventing a patient from sliding into a slouched posture when the head of the bed is elevated. Proper positioning affects the quality of a patient’s respirations and is essential for patients suffering from pulmonary compromise due to disease, illness, or injury. Caution, however, must be used when using the adjustable settings on a hospital bed when seating a patient on the edge of the bed as it can create an uneven surface affecting seated balance.
Hospital bed mattress options
Hospital beds commonly have a standard mattress consisting of foam and springs, encased in a protective impermeable cover. To accommodate specific patient needs, several alternative surface options are available. The most common alternative mattress is known as an “air mattress.” Air mattresses are one intervention commonly assigned to patients having wounds or at risk for pressure injury. Air mattresses are usually powered by external blowers which enable the air pressure within the mattress to be increased or decreased, thereby adjusting the firmness of the mattress. When adjusted appropriately, air mattresses allow a patient to partially ‘sink’ into the mattress accomplishing distribution of pressure over a greater surface area of a patient’s body. When adjusted too firm or too soft, however, the intended benefits of an air mattress can be negated and lead to new or progression of existing pressure injuries.
While air mattresses can offer the patient improved skin protection, they can be more difficult for patient transfer due to surface instability and lower surface friction. Air mattress characteristics and features vary by manufacturer, and should be considered when selecting this intervention to address patient risks.
Settings such as bed height, mattress positioning, and firmness are utilized to maximize comfort and safety for the individual patient’s needs. Some specialty mattresses include options for rotation, oscillation, and percussion to assist with managing respiratory secretions. Alternative bed surfaces can optimize skin protection; however they do require appropriate operator settings and do not replace regular repositioning which would relieve pressure on vulnerable areas.
Hospital bed rails & safety devices
Rails on hospital beds are adjustable and are often used to assist in turning and repositioning patients, providing a secure hold grasp for patients, and reducing the risk of fall injuries. However, rails are also associated with strangulation and entrapment injuries, pressure injuries, and more serious fall incidents if a patient climbs/rolls over the barrier or if the rails are not appropriately positioned. Bed rails are not intended as attachment points for restraints. Assessment by the patient’s health care team is necessary to determine if and how rails should be utilized to keep the patient safe.
Additional safety devices used in conjunction with hospital beds include floor safety mats, alarms, bolsters, and lighting. Floor mats can be used to attenuate impact in the event of a fall and various alarms can be used to notify health care providers if a patient has left the bed or changed positions. Bolsters or wedges are used for positioning to reduce pressure injuries, and can also provide safety against falls. Specialized lighting can be used to reduce patient confusion associated with waking in a dark unlit room. The patient’s care team is responsible for determining the necessary and appropriate hospital bed safety devices that meet the individualized needs of the patient.
Maintenance and inspections
Hospital beds are considered Durable Medical Equipment (DME) and require routine inspection and maintenance. Federal or State laws and regulations (including Life Safety Code requirements adopted as part of Federal regulations) may either require that equipment maintenance (including maintenance, inspection and testing) be performed in accordance with the manufacturer’s recommendations, or establish other maintenance requirements. Bed manufacturers and the Department of Health and Human Services direct owners to have hospital beds inspected by a qualified professional, such as a clinical or biomedical technician or engineer.
Common areas for inspection and maintenance include:
All hospital bed incidents must be reported to the bed manufacturer and/or the FDA. The FDA tracks Durable Medical Equipment incidents, issues consumer alerts, and determines if further action is needed (up to and including issuing a recall) based upon the frequency and severity of unintended events.
Incidents involving hospital beds often occur due to provider error or mechanical failure. An investigation of the hospital bed, care records, and witness reports can help determine the cause of the incident. The health care experts at Robson Forensic can analyze the causation behind hospital bed mishaps and the address the relevant standards of care.
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