Improper Use of Bed Rails in Nursing Homes

    PHOENIX, AZ, December 07, 2011 /24-7PressRelease/ -- A few years ago, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued guidelines to stem the growing numbers of elderly who had become entrapped and injured with bed rails. While these devices were designed to keep the elderly from rolling out of bed and preventing injury, they can also create equal harm. This happens when an elderly patient - particularly one suffering from Alzheimer's or another form of dementia becomes trapped between the mattress and the bed rail.

The FDA guidelines now instruct nursing home and hospital personnel how to make complex calculations to determine if beds are safe. Gaps in the assembly of a hospital bed can occur when different manufacturers make the separate parts - bed, rail, frame and mattress.

Prevention of Bed Rail Accidents in the Elderly

By law, bed rails should only be used in a nursing home setting with a doctor's order. Mistakenly, some staff members believe that the use of bed rails are a protective device and use them arbitrarily without a doctor's order. Training is imperative for these staff members so that injury or accidents can be prevented. That training will have the staff member do the following:

- Push the mattress to one side to determine if a gap any more than four fingers in width can be made between the mattress and the bed rail.
- Monitor elderly patients, especially ones with dementia and Alzheimer's so that they don't climb over the bed rails and suffer an injury from a fall.
- Check that bed rails have been placed in the upward position prior to leaving the nursing home room.

The Most Common Bed Rail Injury

Proper training helps prevent the most common bed rail injury - falling over the railing. This type of injury is more devastating than a simple fall from the bed, due to the extra height from which the senior may tumble. Another type of injury that is common with bed rail use involves falls after the bed rails have been lowered. Since those who are bedridden have muscle deterioration, a fall after the bed rail has been lowered is quite common. Other injuries from bed rails can include:

- Chest compression
- Suffocation
- Strangulation
- Death

To learn more about bed rail use and what can happen, if bed rails are not used properly, please visit the website of nursing home abuse attorneys Cullan & Cullan, M.D., J.D. in Phoenix and Scottsdale, Arizona at www.stopnursinghomeabuse.org.

# # #