How to Avoid Using Bedrails

Bedrails have traditionally been used to prevent a person from falling out of bed or to help the occupant of the bed move around. As more attention has fallen on nursing facilities for the elderly, more and more facilities resist the use of bedrails to avoid costly lawsuits by patients' relatives who feel that the bed rails are too constrictive. If you wish to avoid using bedrails, however, there are some health issues--like ulcers and bedsores--that you must find alternate means of dealing with since the lack of rails may prevent the patient from taking preventative action on his own.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Body pillows

1. Place the mattress as near to the floor as possible. If you are not going to use bedrails for a patient who could potentially fall out of bed, place the mattress as close to the floor as possible to prevent injuries. Some people actually place their mattresses on the floor itself, but this can raise additional issues with allergies.

2. Block the patient in at night using the body pillows. While these pillows will restrict movement at night, they will also help prevent the patient from falling out of bed. They can be removed during daytime to enable the patient to move about as he pleases.

3. Help the patient move regularly throughout the day. If the patient is unable to move on his own, you will have to assist him since he will not have bedrails to use for additional support should he wish to shift his body. He will need help rising and help changing positions at least once or twice an hour throughout the day so that he does not develop problematic health issues, like bedsores and ulcers, related to lack of motion.

4. Offer an alternative enabling device. When bedrails are used to facilitate independent motion, they are called enablers. If a patient wishes to avoid bedrails, he may need another enabling device that is fixed firmly to the bed structure or floor that will bear the weight and pressure of using it to move the body around in the bed. This could be a pole or small set of handrails more like a ladder than an actual rail that takes up only a small portion of the bedside.

5. Practice routine movements daily. If you are trying to avoid using bedrails for a patient, the best way to avoid using them is for him to keep the muscles that he must use to get in and out of bed in good condition. Simple, repetitive movements like rising and sitting can build muscles and keep them toned enough to extend his range of motion and mobile ability so that he will not have to use bedrails in the future.

Tips & Warnings

• Consult your doctor, physical therapist and local nursing experts before making a firm decision on the use or refusal of bedrails.

References

• Bedrails: Constraints or Enablers?
• Decisions on Bedrails Must Not be Made Through Emotive Arguments