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Roundtable: Sterilizers

Hospital beds are an important and yet sometimes overlooked piece of medical equipment. This month, TechNation shares expert insights regarding the latest developments in hospital beds as well as tips on how to manage these vital assets.

Tue Apr 01 2014By Medical Dealer Magazine

TechNation Magazine | The Roundtable | Hospital Beds

 
 

Hospital beds are an important and yet sometimes overlooked piece of medical equipment. This month, TechNation shares expert insights regarding the latest developments in hospital beds as well as tips on how to manage these vital assets.

The expert panel includes Andy Mosher, head bed technician at Children’s Hospital Colorado; Byron Wurdeman, founder and CEO of Piedmont Medical Inc.; Stephen Davis, lead bed technician at USOC Bio-Medical Services and Sheneka Rains, BSEE, CBET, director of operations at Rosellini Scientific.

roundtable 11 The Roundtable: Hospital Beds

Q: What are the latest advances or significant changes in hospital beds and in the hospital bed market in the past year?

Mosher: Some of the latest advances and changes are speciality surfaces, integrated systems, self-propulsion, patient and bed tracking, new pressure re-distribution, pressure mapping, patient transitioning, stronger and lighter alloys and materials. Overall, beds are lighter and stronger.

Davis: Some of the largest advances in hospital beds have been a combination of integrated technology (touchscreens on the console, advanced mattress functions, etc.) and using a more modern design in the construction of beds. They are slimmed down with a smaller footprint and have more plastic parts.

Rains: In the past year, we are seeing more beds being networked into other systems within the healthcare environment. The manufacturers are building into the beds the necessary hardware and software to relay information about the bed and the patient within the bed. Things like bed position, patient position and weight data is being integrated with nurse call systems to act as another careful eye over the patient.

 

Q: How will those changes impact the hospital bed market in the future? How will they impact maintenance?

Mosher: The changes will result in increased patient comfort and quicker care, cost savings, time savings, ease of use for caregivers and ease of tracking. They will help limit down time for repairs, and maintenance.

Wurdeman: I think patients and caregivers will have less risk for injury. Biomeds will like simple repairs.

Davis: With the addition of all the new technology integrated into hospital beds, this ultimately allows for a plethora of configurations and additional features. Hospital beds are no longer glorified beds on wheels, they now are full care stations. The future market will be a lot more specialized based off of the direct care needs of the patients. This added complexity is great for the patient’s specific needs, but it adds a lot more systems that need to be checked more regularly. The maintenance is no longer delegated to electric motors with worm gears and chain drives. The modern bed is articulated by hydraulic cylinders, hydraulic lines and arrays of solenoids. Add all the electronics needed to orchestrate all the new features, and you have a piece of equipment that requires more specialized parts and know how.

Rains: We have already seen a major shift in the reputation of hospital beds. Once thought of as a piece of furniture, now they are much more. Hospital beds not only provide comfort they also provide therapy, transportation, entertainment, communication and protection. Hospital beds will play a significant role in improving patient satisfaction and improving the outcome of patient care.

roundtable 2 The Roundtable: Hospital Beds

Q: What technologies are worthy of the initial investment? How can a facility with a limited budget meet the hospital bed needs of today?

Wurdeman: I believe that the important features that a hospital bed should have are anything to make the patient’s and/or caregiver’s life better, including scales, communications, and possibly an air mattress. A facility that wants to save money should buy reconditioned hospital beds whenever possible.

Davis: Any modern style hospital bed is worth the investment. With their smaller footprints and increased function capability, any newer bed is a good investment. Picking the right techonolgy comes down to patient needs. What kind and level of care does the facilities’ patients need? Match the proper bed with the proper functions and you help provide the highest level of care.

Rains: Nurse call and asset tracking are technologies that are worthy of investment. A lot of times hospitals will opt out because they don’t have the funds but soon realize that they need a backup to the pillow speaker for patient safety and satisfaction. Also, utilizing an asset tracking system can help to cut down on rentals and allow you to understand the whereabouts of specialty beds thus reducing costs of renting, labor required to track down beds and help to decrease time to admittance.

 

Q: What else do you think TechNation readers need to know about purchasing and servicing hospital beds?

Mosher: They should be sure to use approved lubricants and factory parts so as not to void a warranty. They should be performing annual PMs to increase useable life and limit down time.

Wurdeman: Purchasers need to know if features need to be added on. Try to find a bed that is easy to repair.

Rains: Hospital beds should be treated with the same care and respect as any piece of biomedical equipment. This means using the same experts and processes to choose which beds to purchase that you would use to determine required features or compatibility of other medical equipment. Ensure you get the service manuals. They are typically pretty good and opt for the training school during the initial purchase, if available. Besides IV pumps, hospital beds typically make up the second largest fleet of equipment in the hospital and is a significant capital investment with some beds costing as much as cars. If your hospital had a fleet of several hundred cars, would they be on a preventive maintenance schedule? Is there another piece of equipment in the hospital that your patients have more intimate contact with Think about it …

Read the full article on the April 2014 issue of Medical Dealer magazine

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