Hospital bed
Hospital beds are used to provide a support surface for patients or other individuals for treatment, recuperation, or rest. Many such patient supports include a frame, a deck supported by the frame, a mattress, siderails configured to block egress of a patient from the mattress, and a controller configured to control one or more features of the bed. Beds in medical institutions usually include a bed frame mounted on a wheeled base, which allows them to be used to move patients from one location to another. Height and angle adjustable beds are also used by medical institutions. Such beds may be raised and lowered between a high position and a low position, and the inclination of their mattresses may be adjusted at the head and foot thereof. A typical hospital bed includes a base designed to roll on the floor and a litter upon which the patient rests. A lift assembly, which often includes one or two jacks, connects the litter to the base so that litter can be raised or lowered as may be required for the convenience of the patient, the patient's medical condition, or to allow a specific medical procedure to be performed on the patient. Hospital beds are designed to be moved from location to location in a hospital or other health care facility. Therefore, beds have wheels or casters which permit the hospital bed to be rolled and steered between locations. During movement it is desirable to have free rolling wheels but upon reaching the desired location, brakes are usually applied to the wheels to maintain the bed at the desired location. Many hospital beds are positionable to a configuration having the sleeping surface of the bed at a predetermined height above the floor and having siderails positioned to restrain the movement of a person lying on the sleeping surface past sides of the sleeping surface and off of the bed. The sleeping surfaces of many such hospital beds can typically be lowered to reduce the distance between the sleeping surface and the floor, and the sleeping surfaces of such beds can often be manipulated to adjust the position of the person on the sleeping surface. Patient support devices such as hospital beds and stretchers are provided with hydraulic systems which allow the caregiver to raise the height of the bed and articulate a deck underlying the patient support surface to modify the configuration of the patient support surface. Hospital beds with adjustable patient support surfaces moved by hydraulic cylinders which can be controlled either manually or electrically have been provided to address the need for bed adjustment in the event of a power outage. Many hospital bed lift assemblies are also designed to selectively move one end of the litter so that either the head end or foot end of the litter can be elevated relative to the other end so as to incline the litter. The ability a modern hospital bed has to lift a patient up and down and to position the patient in an inclined position has been found to help individuals suffering from, shock, certain cardiac conditions and other medical ailments. Bedside control systems are commonly used in the health care industry to make various control functions accessible to patients. Bedside controllers are typically used for bed adjustment, nurse calls, and for control of appliances such as radio, television, telephone and lights.
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