Choosing a Home Hospital bed
Home hospital beds serve a very important purpose. They
provide families with the ability to care for their loved-ones at home instead
of placing them in an extended-care facility. In addition to providing family
members with a very loving level of care, families are still able to provide
family members with quality care when affordability becomes an issue.
Home Hospital Beds …. Selecting the Right Bed
Although families can sometimes select the type of bed they
feel will best serve their loved-one’s needs, in some cases their options
become limited to the type of bed prescribed by the patient’s physician. When
the bed is to be used on a short-term basis, by a patient who is recovering
from major surgery, families can choose a manual, semi-electric, or fully
electric model. As long as the bed provides the ability to raise and lower the
head and feet it should fit the patient’s needs just fine.How to determine what kind of hospital bed you will need
In the case of dementia patients families should consider a
fully electric model that can be lowered very close to the floor, equipped with
side-rails. Patients who will need long-term care, such as individuals with
burn and spinal cord injuries, will be prescribed a specific type of bed by
their physicians.
Selecting the Right Mattress for your Hospital Bed at Home
Selecting the right mattress for the home hospital bed is
very important. Depending upon the patient’s needs, families can choose from:
Standard Mattresses
Air Mattresses
Therapeutic Mattresses
The most commonly used standard mattress is the standard
model, available with foam or inner spring construction. Air and therapeutic
mattresses are similar in purpose; they are designed to reduce the amount of
pressure placed on the patient’s body. They can use either air of foam to
accomplish this goal, some models use microprocessors to control their constant
deflating and inflating.
Selecting the Right Accessories for your Home Hospital Bed
There are a number of accessories available for home
hospital beds. The trapeze, for example, is designed to either assist the
patient in shifting their position in bed or move from the bed to a chair. One
style of trapeze is mounted directly onto the bed’s frame. It enables the
patient to re-position themselves while lying in bed, as well as assist them in
moving them to and from the bed.
A trapeze
A free-standing trapeze can be moved throughout the room,
they assist the patient in movement once he/she is sitting in a chair. Unless
the patient is ambulatory, able to join the family for meals, an “over bed”
table will be needed. This accessory is available in several different models,
some offering several angle positions to make it easier for the patient to eat
or perform other activities.
Bedside cabinets come in a number of styles, the most common
containing three-drawers. These units are used to store the patient’s personal
items as well as items which are used throughout the day for patient care.
Piedmont Medical can make your life easier
The accessories you choose, like the bed and mattress,
should meet the needs of the patient and caregiver. Any extra that would be
able to fulfill a particular medical need, or make it easier to care for the
patient, should be considered.
Find more on www.fb.com/piedmontmedicalinc
or @ www.piedmontmedicalinc.com
