Anyone who has a loved one in a nursing home dreads a phone call from the nursing home. Residents are usually elderly and often sick, and injuries and deaths are common among nursing home residents. However, one risk may be an unexpected one: the safety risk of bed rails.<\/p>\n
Bed rails are used in nursing homes to prevent residents from falling out of bed, to help them get in and out of bed more easily, and to help them reposition themselves more easily. Yet many people are unaware of the risks. The risks include scrapes and bruising from hitting the hard rails, more serious injuries from falls if a resident tries to climb over the rails, and strangling or suffocation if a resident becomes caught between the rails and the mattress.<\/p>\n
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration reports that from 1985 to 2009, there were 803 incidents reported of patients caught, trapped, strangled, or entangled in beds with rails. About 480 of those patients died as a result. The Food and Drug Administration recommends only using bed rails when necessary and\u00a0engaging\u00a0in ongoing evaluation and monitoring to optimize safety.<\/p>\n