How does the height of the hospital bed affect the patient?

So what impact does bed height have on patients? How should the safe height of hospital beds be determined, properly adjusted, and maintained?

First, The effect of bed height on patients.

1. If the bed is too high, the patient’s feet are a certain distance from the ground when getting out of bed. Jumping movements tend to increase the risk of patients falling. In addition, the patient can easily slip off the bed, resulting in a fall.
2. If the bed is too low, the patient’s hips will be too far from the bed when sleeping, which will easily cause the patient to sit in the air and increase the risk of falling.

Second, Then how should be properly adjusted and maintained the safety height of the hospital bed?

1. When adjusting the bed height for the patient, the patient can adjust the height of the lower leg and the bed surface while raising the head.
2. After adjusting the bed height according to the reasonable bed height of 41~53 cm, it can make the patient feel appropriate after trying to sit.
3. For patients with mobility problems, nurses can also determine the length of their own calves first and use themselves as a reference for reasonable adjustment.
4. In the daily morning and evening nursing and ward rounds, we should preach, observe and adjust the height of the bed. We believe that in the process of our continuous explanation, preaching, and attention, the safe height of the hospital bed will be known, valued, and maintained by the patients and their families.

Third, The hospital bed is a more basic and very important medical equipment for patients.

1. The hospital bed can be divided into electric and manual beds by function. However, a study pointed out that 42% to 60% of the patients’ falls are related to the height of the hospital bed, or found to be on the edge of the bed.
2. But the height of the hospital bed is easy to be ignored by us, so we must help patients to adjust the height of the bed reasonably in our usual work, do a good job of educating patients and primary caregivers about fall prevention-related knowledge, and instruct them not to adjust the height of the bed at will, and return to their position in time after using the remote control handle and brake of the bed to prevent the hazards of falls.

Clinical nurses must not standardize bed height for the sake of neat and beautiful wards. We must reasonably adjust the safety height of the bed according to the height of the patient so that it can be safely maintained.