edgerton beds

[jax]

We take pt's with bony spinal injuries with limited or no neurology on our unit and depending on how unstable the # is they are nursed on edgerton beds ( with or without tongs depending on # site.) My questions is, is it policy at your hospital for higher staffing numbers if you have pt's on edgerton beds, or not?

It's not at ours and this is something I would love to see changed. Thanks for any responses.

[Marra Jade]

Hi Jax,

I hope I don't sound naive but what is an edgerton bed? I from Canada and we have specialty inflatable beds that we rent from KCI but the type of bed doesn't figure into our workload.

Marra

[jax]

Hi Marra

We use edgerton beds for patients with spinal fractures, and our spinal injuries unit uses them for patients with spinal cord and bony injuries. The patients lies flat in the bed and the bed moves to the left or right ie a rail is put on the side of the bed - pillows are stacked between the patient and the rail and the bed tips up. The patient remains in alignment but gets off their back /butt for a while. I think Rota beds were used before edgerton beds, and I would be interested to hear what anyone else may be using.

My query re staffing and edgerton beds was in regard to the fact that the patients are immobile and unable to do very little for themselves without risk of further/permanent injury.

Jax