About 2.5 million hospital beds are in use in the US today. Designed to help patients recover, sometimes the beds themselves become a device that cuts their life short. Take for example the statistics of injury associated with this invaluable piece of hospital furniture. Reportedly, between the years 1985 and 2008, there were about 772 incidents where patients were either caught, trapped, entangled, or strangled in beds with rails. About 460 of these patients died, 136 were injury, and 176 were saved from injury as the hospital staff intervened in time. However, the average patient who became a victim was frail, old or confused. Meaning that some of their own medical condition contributed to the accidents.

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On the one hand rails of hospital beds have many benefits including helping the patients turn or reposition, serving as a hand-hold to get out of bed, inducing a psychological feeling of security, preventing patients from falling over, and offering quick 'n' simple access to bed controls and patient utilities. On the other, this precious healthcare furniture may cause accidents like strangling or suffocating patients, causing injury when a part of their body gets stuck between the rails, leading to minor injuries like bruises, cuts, and scrapes or the like.

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While the hospital bed rails will persist as long as the hospital beds do, healthcare provider in collaboration with the patient and their families can decrease the risk by a big margin.

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Experts suggest the following measures that can go a long way in reducing these risk.

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* The healthcare providers and the patients or their family can discuss and assess whether the bed rails are essential.

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* The healthcare personnel can offer assurance to patients and their families that bed rails aren't essential in all cases, and that many at times the patients are safe even without them.

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* The professionals should assess the need for bed rails on a regular basis at short intervals, and removing them when they're not required.

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On the whole hospital beds are precious pieces of medical furniture, but they do need to be used with care so as to avoid accidents and mishaps.