Special Beds for Elderly and Disabled - Hospital Adjustable Bed

Hospital Adjustable Bed is a bed that is designed primarily to be used by elderly, disabled, hospitalized patients or others that need to use them in nursing homes, assisted living facilities, outpatient clinics, as well as in home health care. These beds have built-in advanced features that elevate not only the comfort and well-being of the patients but also provide better convenience to healthcare workers.

The core feature of adjustable hospital beds allows senior to quickly raise and lower the head and foot sections of the bed, as well as raise and lower the entire bed, thus enabling them to easily get in and out of it. This is especially beneficial to the elderly who have trouble maintaining their balance before and after their sleep with traditional beds.

Hospital adjustable bed come equipped with varying amount of optional features, such as varying number of movable sections, two or four rails on the sides of the bed, and electronic systems that allow predefined or fully manual control over the height and angle of the bed sections.

In addition to helping seniors get in and out of the bed, adjustable head and foot rest can provide additional comfort to elderly who are forced to spend a lot of time in the bed. Raising their headrest can help them eat food or communicate with people easier while raising the footrest could enhance their blood circulation and help them to sleep easier.

Benefits of Hospital Adjustable Bed

  • Mobility issues - In home care, the majority of users of hospital adjustable beds are seniors who have issues with mobility during sitting down and getting up from the bed, as well as rolling themselves in the bed from one side of the body to another. Hospital adjustable bed provide great relief to such users who can manually set bed height when they are lowering or standing up from it, and they can also take advantage from bed rails when moving on the bed or getting up. The adjustable position of the headrest can also facilitate easier mobility of the user.
  • Prolonged rest - Elderly who have to spend a lot of time (or in some case, are permanently forced to remain lying down due to illness or lack of strength and balance) can more easily change their positions using integrated motors that can elevate their head or feet with a simple press of a button. These changes in resting position can offload prolonged pressure in the parts of their body, which will increase their comfort and prevent the appearance of pressure sores.
  • Difficulties with sleeping on flat beds - Elderly who suffer from COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) can greatly appreciate bed that can easily lift their heads during sleep, thus ensuring that they can breathe more easily. This is also valid for seniors who feel the effects of back problems and other illnesses.
  • Increased caregiver convenience - Caregivers of bed-locked seniors can provide health services more efficiently if they can set up the height and position of the bed using few button presses. For example, they can enable seniors to roll on their side easily or to put them into elevated position so that they can reach food that is placed in front of them on adjustable tray or table.
  • Reduced skin issues - Elderly users who are forced to spend a lot of their time in beds due to various medical issues (such as diabetes, congestive heart failure, peripheral vascular disease and others) have a higher chance of developing bed sores (also known as pressure sores and skin breakdown condition). Their overall health is already frail, and these skin issues can increase the incidence of chronic pain that will increase with their age. The ability to set the bed in the position that will enable seniors to adjust their position in bed more easily can substantially improve the blood circulation in the parts of their body that are under constant pressure. Hospital adjustable beds that will be used by bed-locked patients can also be equipped with special pressure-relief mattresses that can additionally reduce the risk of the appearance of bed sores.
  • Additional safety - Many seniors are fearing that they will fall from their bed during one of their sessions of adjusting their positions to relieve a bed fatigue. Hospital adjustable beds can be equipped with optional bed rails that can keep seniors safely in bed. They can not only keep bed occupants safe but are also ideal for providing additional handholds during changing bed position or getting in and out of bed.
The benefits of hospital adjustable bed are numerous, enabling both the elderly and the people who take care of them to have much easier times handling their daily needs

Hospital Adjustable Bed Features and Accessories

If you are purchasing a new hospital adjustable bed, please take into consideration the following features and accessories, because they may directly affect the usability and comfort level of both senior who will use the bed and caregivers who will provide them with needed support.

The Base Type of Adjustable Bed

Older persons who are in need in height-adjustable bed sometimes do not require the presence of all optional features and accessories. Make sure to examine their needs and pick the best type of bed that will serve them well. This includes finding out do they need access to bed rails for getting up and down or changing bed position, are they afraid to use the height-adjustable bed without safety handlebars, do they need fully adjustable movement range for headrest and footrest, and do they need a specialty mattress?

You will need to find answers for those questions because the most available (cheapest) hospital adjustable bed models are those who have only the ability to raise flat mattress and do not have mounting points for any accessories.

Bed Rails

Bed rails come in several configurations, and you will need to take into consideration the need of the bed user. Bed rails can span the full side of the bed, or just half the length (so-called “half rails"), and hospital adjustable bed can be mounted with as many of them as you require. For example, one side of the bed may feature a full or two half rails, and another side can have just one-half rail.

The caregiver can operate both half and full rails by sliding them up and down when they are providing healthcare support to the bed user. The half bed rails are often viewed as more convenient, as they can be more easily put up and down according to the needs of the elderly user. They can be slid down when they are getting in and out of bed, and then raised up when they are using the bed.

Automated or Manual Bed Movement

Hospital adjustable beds can be powered by electric motors, or their height can be adjusted with manual movement of the crank. There are also beds that support both of these approaches, usually with electric motors handling raising and lowering of the bed, and hand crank managing position of the headrest.

Of course, fully electric motors are most convenient for use but can be more expensive.

Wheels

Wheels are an option to hospital adjustable bed that is not needed for all users.

If the bed is intended to stay stationary in elderly’s room, then you can elect to not purchase a bed with wheels. However, if you need to move the bed from time to time (either within a room or between separate rooms), wheels can be an incredibly helpful accessory.

This is especially true for caregivers who don’t have enough physical power to move heavy beds by themselves. Presence of the wheels will help them to easily relocate bed to another position with ease and with no chance of developing any back strain.

Specialty Mattress

If the elderly user intends to spend a lot of time in bed, they will need to take advantage from specialty mattress that will heal or prevent the appearance of bed pressure sores. Some seniors prefer specialty mattresses whose purpose is only to increase their comfort.

Head and Foot Operator

Some hospital adjustable bed that feature adjustable head and footrests can only operate simultaneously, meaning that, if you elevate headrest, footrest will also be automatically raised. If you need to independently control the positions of all segments of the mattress, you should consider purchasing more expensive and fully adjustable bed model that allows users to manually control height and angle of bed rests.

Weight Capacity

Hospital adjustable bed can be purchased in both regular and bariatric sizes, providing the weight capacity for both normal and overweight patients.

Other Accessories

  • Bed table - Fully removable or can be slid or tilted away.
  • Trapeze - Seniors or disabled with enough upper body strength can use trapeze to more easily adjust their position in bed.
  • Sheet/blanket supports
  • Different mattresses
  • Mounting points for other accessories

Cost of Hospital Adjustable Bed

The cost of hospital adjustable beds can vary widely depending on the manufacturer, build materials, the presence of electric motors and advanced controls, and weight capacity. Basic models can usually start at around $600, and can go to approximately $1000 for a fully electric model. The fully kitted out models can go up to $5000, or even more.

Hospital Adjustable Bed