| About 2.5 million hospital beds are in use in the US | | | | causing injury when a part of their body gets stuck |
| today. Designed to help patients recover, sometimes | | | | between the rails, leading to minor injuries such as |
| the beds themselves become a device that cuts their | | | | bruises, cuts, and scrapes or the like. |
| life short. | | | | While the hospital bed rails will persist as long as the |
| Take for instance the statistics of injury associated | | | | hospital beds do, healthcare provider in collaboration |
| with this invaluable piece of hospital furniture. | | | | with the patient and their families can reduce the risk |
| Reportedly, between the years 1985 and 2008, there | | | | by a big margin. |
| were about 772 incidents where patients were either | | | | Experts suggest the following measures that can go a |
| caught, trapped, entangled, or strangled in beds with | | | | long way in reducing these risk. |
| rails. About 460 of these patients died, 136 were injury, | | | | * The healthcare providers and the patients or their |
| and 176 were saved from injury as the hospital staff | | | | family can discuss and assess whether the hospital |
| intervened in time. However, the average patient who | | | | furniture bed rails are necessary. |
| became a victim was frail, elderly or confused. | | | | * The healthcare personnel can offer assurance to |
| Meaning that some of their own medical condition | | | | patients and their families that bed rails aren't |
| contributed to the accidents. | | | | necessary in all cases, and that many at times the |
| On the one hand rails of hospital beds have a number | | | | patients are safe even without them. |
| of benefits including helping the patients turn or | | | | * The professionals should assess the need for bed |
| reposition, serving as a hand-hold to get out of bed, | | | | rails on a regular basis at short intervals, and removing |
| inducing a psychological feeling of security, preventing | | | | them when they're not needed. |
| patients from falling over, and offering fast 'n' easy | | | | On the whole hospital beds are priceless pieces of |
| access to bed controls and patient utilities. On the | | | | medical furniture, but they do need to be used with |
| other, this precious healthcare furniture may cause | | | | care so as to avoid accidents and mishaps. |
| accidents such as strangling or suffocating patients, | | | | |