Patient Safety Authority: Bed safety

Summary

In the past, healthcare workers considered bed rails a useful device to prevent patient falls from bed. While bed rails have their benefits, their use or misuse may also place patients at significant risk, resulting in death or serious injury. Entrapment is an occurrence involving a patient who is caught, trapped, or entangled in the hospital bed system, which includes the spaces in or around the bed rail, hospital bed mattress, or hospital bed frame. Entrapped body parts associated with risk for severe injury include the head, neck, and chest. Awareness of this risk must be heightened across the healthcare continuum.

The Patient Safety Authority has collated guidelines, resources and educational tools on bed safety.