Hospital Beds

Hospital beds are specifically designed to help care for sick and injured people. They are available for home use either through purchase or renting and can be found at most medical supply companies. Hospital beds resemble a twin sized bed and are constructed of metal with moveable side rails for easier access to the sick or injured person. They may be electrical or manual which means that they may use electricity or a hand crank for lowering and raising the position of the bed for better comfort.

Determining Whether or not a Hospital Bed is Needed

If you or a loved one in your home is recovering from an illness then a hospital bed can be very beneficial. You can easily change the position on the bed to make the patient more comfortable and lower and raise the head, foot or knee area of the bed. It will also make it much easier for the patient to get in and out of bed or for caretakers to properly care for them. Raising and lowering the bed allows you to provide a much more comfortable sitting and sleeping position for the patient and can help them to breathe easier. An electric hospital bed may be a bit easier for you to use since the bed is operated by the push of a button.

Electric and Manual Hospital Beds

Again, hospital beds come in both manual and electric operations and choosing the best one will depend on a few different things. A manual hospital bed uses hand cranks in order to change the positions of the bed. If you cannot operate the hand crank or do not have someone in the home that can operate it for you then a manual bed may not be the best choice. They are typically less expensive than electric beds but again, they do require a bit of strength to operate. Manual beds can be lowered and raised just like electric beds to make it easier for the patient to get up and down.

Electric hospital beds have a motor that operates the crank. They need to be plugged into an electric outlet at all times in order to operate. There is typically a control pad that is attached to the bed that allows the caregiver or the patient to raise and lower the bed. Most choose an electric bed simply because they are much easier to operate and the positions can be changed easier and faster. Many models also include a built in scale for weighing the patient when needed.

Choosing the right hospital bed for your needs or the needs of a loved one will depend on the extent of the illness and injury, how much space you have available for the bed and whether you prefer an electric or a manual model. Take the time to go over the various benefits of each type when choosing to ensure that you select the right bed for recovery. Hospital beds can be purchased new or used or rented from many home health medical supply stores.