Medical Beds

Information About Medical Beds

Perhaps you’ve seen or had experience with the “old fashioned” medical beds (or hospital beds) that you’d have to crank from the base of the bed to adjust the position of the patient. If you’ve not had personal experience with them, you’ve likely seen them in old movies. Those old style medical beds could be very, very difficult to operate and if they weren’t maintained correctly, they were even more difficult to operate. Fortunately, the manufacturers of medical beds today’s have come a long way from where they were just a few short years ago. Today there are manual medical beds and electric medical beds. Obviously the manual styles are cheaper than the electric but even the manual beds today are easy to operate and do not require much effort to make adjustments.

 

Medical Beds Come in Manual, Electric and Semi Electric

If you have the funds to purchase one, an electrical hospital bed can make things much easier for both the patient and their caregivers. They run on normal household current as well, so there is no need to upgrade electrical service when bringing one into a home. Semi electric medical beds are also an option. The head and foot of these beds are electrically adjusted, so your elder would be able to handle these adjustments as needed by themselves. The height of the bed is adjusted manually. Generally, this type of bed is fully covered by Medicare of home use.
 

Follow Doctor’s Advice

The best way to determine if your elder actually needs a hospital bed is through conversations with their physician. This is extremely important, actually, if you are intending on getting some financial help via Medicare. Although the regulations seems to always be changing, the chances are pretty good that you’d be able to get some help through the durable medical equipment coverage providing your elder had a medical need and their doctor has prescribed a hospital bed.
 

Of course, if you’d prefer an electrical hospital bed, but it’s out of reach financially, there are firms that rent these beds as well.
 

Tips For Choosing A Medical Bed

When dealing with the decision about whether or not to make the move to either an electric or manual medical bed, you’ll want to take the following into consideration:

• 1. Your want your elder to have the ability to raise or lower the head, foot or the entire bed to provide for maximum comfort at any time.
• 2. Your elder’s caregiver will be able to manage care with far less physical exertion and strain.
• 3. For elders that are in a recovery phase from recent surgery (hip, back, leg, etc.) an electric hospital bed will provide them the ability to move up and down by simply pushing a button or two.
• 4. Making or changing the bed is a snap because of the ability to raise the mattress to a height to match the person making or changing the bed.
• 5. Rails and trapeze bars can be attached to a hospital bed in order to assist your elder in getting in and out of bed.
• 6. Hospital beds can be raised or lowered which will help with the transfer process from a wheel chair to the bed.
• 7. Special hospital bed mattresses can go a long way in helping your elder prevent bed sores. There are many available – from standard coil springs to foam and air mattresses. The size of the standard medical bed / hospital bed mattress is 35×80. The sheets you’ll want to purchase are Twin XL as normal Twin sheets simply won’t fit.
• 8. Be sure to find out if bed rails are included or are optional when purchasing or renting. These are must haves.
• 9. If you feel that a hospital bed has become a necessity for your elder, be sure to discuss this situation with your elder’s doctor. If he or she agrees, check with Medicare to see if the purchase will be covered – at least in part – by Medicare. You may find that even it if isn’t, purchasing a hospital bed may very well be worth the cost.

When shopping for a home medical bed for a loved one, be sure to take what your loved ones medical doctor has to say before you go shopping for one. The medical equipment salesman that you’ll speak with when purchasing a bed will certainly help you decide, but just remember where their interest really lies. Selling you a bed with features you don’t need won’t do you much good, but will increase his or her commission. The doctor is your best bet when it comes to recommendations for medical beds that will be exactly what you need.