What is a Low Hospital Bed?

What is a Low Hospital Bed?

 

You’ve read our 5 Reasons to Use a Low Hospital Bed (http://chgbeds.blogspot.ca/2012/07/5-reasons-to-use-low-hospital-bed.html ) and our follow-up, 5 More Reasons to Use a Low Hospital Bed ( http://chgbeds.blogspot.com/2012/08/5-more-reasons-to-use-low-hospital-bed.html ), but maybe you’re still wondering: what exactly is a low hospital bed?

With origins in the long-term care field, low hospital beds were created with fall prevention and patient safety in mind. Long-term care facilities realized that bed height was a major factor in patient falls and complications such as fractures, dislocations, and brain injuries, and created the low bed as a solution.

Later, hospitals began to implement their own fall prevention strategies for the aging population and new patient safety initiatives, “borrowing” the concept of the low bed.

The Low Hospital Bed Definition

Not every bed that can go high and low can be classified as a low hospital bed. For patient safety reasons, there is a height standard that hospital bed manufacturers must follow. A hospital bed that goes 15 inches low cannot be lumped into the same category as a bed that is 10 inches low to the ground – that extra 5 inches makes all the difference in low hospital beds.

The Hospital Bed Safety Workgroup, created by the FDA and a number of patient safety and national health care organizations, offers a definition to classify low hospital beds:

… The bed is considered “low” if, when the patient is sitting on the side of the bed with feet on the floor, the angle of the patient’s bent knees is 90 degrees or less.

Since the average female leg measures 15 inches from the knee to the foot, and the average male lower leg measures 16.3 inches, the mattress deck height of a hospital bed will need to be between 9 inches and 10.3 inches low to fit this definition. Low hospital beds must consider the height of the mattress, which is often 6 inches thick.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services simply considers the height of a low hospital bed to be between 8 -10 inches off the floor.

Standard hospital beds, at their lowest height, range from 15 inches to 22 inches. Though the extra 5 inches may not seem like much, studies show that a higher bed height can increase a patient’s risk of head and brain injuries from falls.

Low hospital beds are recommended by The Joint Commission, the FDA, and the VA National Center for Patient Safety as a top strategy to reduce patient fall injuries. The low height provides a safe resting height for patients and can minimize the risk of fall injuries such as fractures and dislocations. Patients who have experienced a fall in the past often feel more confident sleeping in a low hospital bed, which can reduce the risk of future falls.

Though typically recommended for use in cases when a patient is at risk of falls, low hospital beds can be used in any acute patient care area. Every patient can feel confident, comfortable and secure when resting at a low height.

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CHG Hospital Beds specializes in low hospital beds that are designed to prevent patient falls and related injuries within acute care environments. We are focused on patient and nurse safety and deliver innovative solutions to meet the needs of our customers.

Know the Facts on Patient Falls

Know the Facts on Patient Falls

Patient falls are one of the most common and costliest Hospital Acquired Conditions in the United States. Curious about how many patient falls occur in the United States each year? This infographic details the facts and figures on patient falls and what facilities can do to limit future falls.

Here are a few highlights from the infographic:

· 84% of all patient incidents in the hospital are falls

· 30% of patient falls result in serious injury, which can include fractures, dislocations, or brain injuries

·Treating a fall patient costs hospitals 60% more than any other patient condition  

 

 

Click on Image to Enlarge

 

CHG Hospital Beds specializes in low hospital beds that are designed to prevent patient falls and related injuries within acute care environments. We are focused on patient and nurse safety and deliver innovative solutions to meet the needs of our customers.

 

For more information on fall prevention or to set up a risk-free trial of CHG Hospital Beds contact us today at info@chgbeds.com or 866-516-5446.

Who Pays for Patient Falls?

As of October 2008, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) will no longer pay for patient falls. The CMS ruled that hospitals and health care providers will no longer be reimbursed for preventable Hospital Acquired Conditions (HAC), which means that the CMS will not pay to treat conditions that were not present upon the patient’s admission.  CMS includes “Patient Falls” as one of 10 Hospital‐Acquired Conditions that is high cost, high volume, or both, and can reasonably be prevented through the application of Evidence Based Guidelines.

As a result, it is now the hospital’s responsibility to pay for resulting patient injuries, or required treatments, from a fall in a hospital setting.

Read more »

The Risk Factors Associated with Patient Falls

Patient falls are one of the most frequent and costly hospital acquired conditions in the United States. Beyond the fall itself, hospitals are concerned about adverse events and injuries caused by a patient falling out of bed. These risks and injuries can include bruising, fractures, dislocations, brain injuries, a decline in overall health, and in some instances, death.¹

Patient falls can be one of the most challenging hospital incidents for healthcare providers to approach because of the varying risk factors and circumstances that contribute to each fall.

Who is at Risk for a Fall?

The National Center for Patient Safety has identified a number of physiological and internal risk factors that contribute to a patient’s risk of hospital falls including:²

1. Age
2. Chronic Disease
3. Visual Impairment
4. A Previous Fall
5.  Medication
6. 
   

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