This item may be covered by your health insurance! Click Here to Find Out! Products and Medical Procedures General Hospital Devices and Supplies A Guide to Bed Safety Bed Rails in Hospitals, Nursing Homes and Home Health Care: The Facts PDF Printer Version(65 KB)Bed Rail Entrapment StatisticsToday there are about 2.5 million hospital and nursing home beds in use in the United States. Between 1985 and January 1, 2009, 803 incidents of patients* caught, trapped, entangled, or strangled in beds with rails were reported to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Of these reports, 480 people died, 138 had a nonfatal injury, and 185 were not injured because staff intervened. Most patients were frail, elderly or confused.* In this brochure, the term patient refers to a resident of a nursing home, any individual receiving services in a home care setting, or patients in hospitals.Patient SafetyPatients who have problems with memory, sleeping, incontinence, pain, uncontrolled body movement, or who get out of bed and walk unsafely without assistance, must be carefully assessed for the best ways to keep them from harm, such as falling.
Assessment by the patient’s health care team will help to determine how best to keep the patient safe. Historically, physical restraints (such as vests, ankle or wrist restraints) were used to try to keep patients safe in health care facilities. In recent years, the health care community has recognized that physically restraining patients can be dangerous. Although not indicated for this use, bed rails are sometimes used as restraints. Regulatory agencies, health care organizations, product manufacturers and advocacy groups encourage hospitals, nursing homes and home care providers to assess patients’ needs and to provide safe care without restraints.The Benefits and Risks of Bed RailsPotential benefits of bed rails include:Aiding in turning and repositioning within the bed.Providing a hand-hold for getting into or out of bed.Providing a feeling of comfort and security.Reducing the risk of patients falling out of bed when being transported.Providing easy access to bed controls and personal care items.
Potential risks of bed rails may include:Strangling, suffocating, bodily injury or death when patients or part of their body are caught between rails or between the bed rails and mattress.More serious injuries from falls when patients climb over rails.Skin bruising, cuts, and scrapes.Inducing agitated behavior when bed rails are used as a restraint.Feeling isolated or unnecessarily restricted.Preventing patients, who are able to get out of bed, from performing routine activities such as going to the bathroom or retrieving something from a closet.Meeting Patients' Needs for SafetyMost patients can be in bed safely without bed rails. Consider the following:Use beds that can be raised and lowered close to the floor to accommodate both patient and health care worker needs.Keep the bed in the lowest position with wheels locked.When the patient is at risk of falling out of bed, place mats next to the bed, as long as this does not create a greater risk of accident.Use transfer or mobility aids.
Anticipate the reasons patients get out of bed such as hunger, thirst, going to the bathroom, restlessness and pain; meet these needs by offering food and fluids, scheduling ample toileting, and providing calming interventions and pain relief.When bed rails are used, perform an on-going assessment of the patient’s physical and mental status; closely monitor high-risk patients. Consider the following:Lower one or more sections of the bed rail, such as the foot rail.Use a proper size mattress or mattress with raised foam edges to prevent patients from being trapped between the mattress and rail.Reduce the gaps between the mattress and side rails.Which Ways of Reducing Risks are Best?A process that requires ongoing patient evaluation and monitoring will result in optimizing bed safety. Many patients go through a period of adjustment to become comfortable with new options. Patients and their families should talk to their health care planning team to find out which options are best for them.
Patient or Family Concerns About Bed Rail UseIf patients or family ask about using bed rails, health care providers should:Encourage patients or family to talk to their health care planning team to determine whether or not bed rails are indicated.Reassure patients and their families that in many cases the patient can sleep safely without bed rails.Reassess the need for using bed rails on a frequent, regular basis.To report an adverse event or medical device problem, please call FDA’s MedWatch Reporting Program at 1-800-FDA-1088.For additional copies of this brochure, see the FDA’s Hospital Bed website.She has volunteered to answer questions.For information regarding a specific hospital bed, contact the bed manufacturer directly.Developed by the Hospital Bed Safety WorkgroupParticipating Organizations:AARPABA Tort and Insurance Practice SectionAmerican Association of Homes and Services for the AgingAmerican Health Care AssociationAmerican Medical Directors AssociationAmerican Nurses AssociationAmerican Society for Healthcare Engineering of the American Hospital AssociationAmerican Society for Healthcare Risk ManagementBasic American Metal ProductsBeverly Enterprises, Inc.Care Providers of MinnesotaCarroll HealthcareDePaul College of LawECRIEvangelical Lutheran Good Samaritan SocietyHill-Rom Co.
, Inc.Joerns Healthcare, Inc.Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare OrganizationsMedical Devices Bureau, Health CanadaNational Association for Home CareNational Citizens’ Coalition for Nursing Home ReformNational Patient Safety FoundationRN+ SystemsStryker MedicalThe Jewish Home and HospitalUntie the Elderly, The Kendal CorporationU.S. Food and Drug AdministrationOctober 2000Revised April 2010Best Mattress for Back Pain Best mattress for back pain Sleep Number beds or medium-firm mattresses may help ease pain According to the National Institutes of Health, back pain is one of our society's most common medical problems. It's estimated that about 8 in 10 Americans suffer from chronic or occasional back pain. If you're one of them, can the right mattress choice help ease your suffering? Absolutely, sleep experts say. And while most don't recommend specific brands or models, they do recommend that back-pain sufferers follow a few general tips. finds that a medium-firm mattress is best for sore backs.
According to this website, a medium firmness provides both support and conformity, which appears essential to relieving or preventing back pain; by contrast, a firm mattress won't offer enough conformity, while a soft mattress won't provide enough support. point out that it's important to balance back pain relief with overall comfort. If a mattress is too firm, your back may feel better, but you may suffer from joint or pressure point pain. They agree that a medium firm mattress may be the best choice to find that balance. also suggests that an adjustable bed may provide relief. The website notes that ideally the upper body should be positioned at an incline of 30 to 45 degrees, and the knees should be supported so they slightly bend. "The combination of upper body incline and the knee support can help take some of the stress off the lower back," according to this website. If you think an adjustable bed might help you find pain relief, especially if you sleep with a partner who doesn't suffer with back pain and wants a different firmness level, the best choice may be an adjustable air mattress like the Sleep Number Bed .
, adjustable air mattresses are far superior at easing all kinds of pain. In particular, Sleep Number beds earn very good ratings for side sleepers, excellent ratings for back sleepers, and overall top ratings for durability. The Sleep Number brand is also one of the top-rated mattress brands overall. Owners praise the comfort and adjustability of Sleep Number mattresses, and quite a few note that their new mattress has relieved pain and/or improved sleep quality. Many also say that buying a Sleep Number bed has resolved partner quibbles over what type of bed to buy, or the necessity of buying a soft bed and adding a board or padding to one side to increase firmness, or vice versa. The downside to Sleep Number beds is that they tend to be pricey, and may not be necessary if you're not sharing your bed. Fortunately, many other mattress brands, such as Simmons Beautyrest, Sealy Posturepedic (Est. $600 and up) and Tempur-Pedic (Est. $1,700 and up) make memory foam mattresses in a wide range of firmness levels.
's survey of the best mattress types to reduce back pain. Latex mattresses, like those made by Ikea, are third. Memory foam and latex mattresses get good reviews for reducing pain because they are more supportive, less likely to sag, and more likely to have good conformity. Sagging, in fact, seems to be most strongly associated with back pain and other complaints. Some mattresses -- particularly innerspring styles with thick padding or pillow tops -- are more prone to sagging, which can increase your pain. , putting boards under a sagging mattress is a short-term fix at best. Experts agree that it's important to replace your mattress before it gets worn out. All of these companies also make adjustable bases for their mattresses, but they tend to me much pricier than a standard mattress and base, and the firmness level is not adjustable, just the mattress, much like a hospital-type bed. There are other causes of back pain aside from your mattress, of course, and the National Institutes of Health offers an excellent overview of the causes of back pain as well as guides to treatment and prevention.