Some Beds have X-ray Sleeves

[Nerd eNurse, ADN]

Have you ever wondered what the zipper is for that is located on the side of the mattress, near the patients head is for on some of the specialty beds? On the Hill-Rom Progressaâ„¢ Bed it is for sliding the x-ray cassette under the patient without moving the patient. It works great. When you unzip it, there is a pocket that goes deep under the chest of the patient. I was curious so I called and spoke with ---------------- at Hill-Rom and found out that it is a pocket called an "X-ray Sleeve". It comes in handy when you have patient with a lot of tubes and equipment that you need to move out of the way or a larger patient. -------------- sent me an electronic copy of the Progressaâ„¢ Bed System User Manual but it is heavily copy-written so I could not post a picture of it in use. After I discovered this, I started to wonder what other bells and whistles do we have that we don't know about. Please post any tips that you can think of so that we can work smarter not harder!

[Rose_Queen, BSN, MSN, RN]

Any time you get a new bed, the company rep should provide inservices. Ours did when we got new ICU beds- anyone who would be involved in using them got inserviced (ICU, OR, cath lab, etc.). That should give you insight into the bells and whistles. If it's a bed that's new to you (changed units, changed facilities, etc.), why not see if your hospital has resources? For our OR beds, we have a spot on our intranet that tells us all about what accessories are compatible (kidney rests, bed extenders, etc.) as well as weight limits and any special features.

[Nerd eNurse, ADN]

That is some good advice and I did look. When I finally called Hill-Rom they had trouble finding out what it was for. They sent me a copy of the user manual which was vague. With that said... do the radiology techs and nurses use the x-ray sleeve at your facility or is it just a bell and whistle? I have shown the sleeve to the techs and nurses multiple times but they don't seem to like it. I find it is a back saver and protects from potentially dislodging tubes and lines.

[calivianya, BSN, RN]

The X-ray techs definitely use the sleeve at my job. It's weird - we have two ICU beds we use regularly, and our "fancier" bed does not have X-ray sleeves, but the bed I would prefer my patient not to be on does. It would be nice to have one of the fancy beds that also has an X-ray sleeve!

The beds we had at my first job - Stryker InTouch - had a translate function. You could pick a sentence like "Are you in pain?" on the touch screen and the bed would verbalize it in any of 12 or so different languages. Every now and then I got to use the function; it was pretty helpful when I needed it, and a heck of a lot faster than calling the translator phone for something simple like "Do you have to have a bowel movement?"

That's the coolest bed feature I know about. That bed also had classical, jazz, and nature sounds playlists built in. I loved putting the classical on for vented people. It was so relaxing and a much nicer background sound than TV blaring. I loved those beds!!!

[Nerd eNurse, ADN]

I have heard about the beds with the translators and it sound great. Thanks for the input! And I am glad to hear that people use the x-ray sleeve.

Another item that I like, but it seems to be under utilized is the patient lift. I recently learned that the lift pad can be placed under a patient without log rolling. They can be placed when the patient is sitting up in the chair. You sit the patient forward and place the pad behind the patient. Here is a link that demonstrates this technique:

Thanks for the input!!

[Kitiger, RN]

Another item that I like, but it seems to be under utilized is the patient lift. I recently learned that the lift pad can be placed under a patient without log rolling. They can be placed when the patient is sitting up in the chair. You sit the patient forward and place the pad behind the patient. Here is a link that demonstrates this technique:

Thanks for the input!!

The slings, or lift pads, for the patient lift can easily be removed and replaced when the patient is sitting up. It is more comfortable to take them out from under the thighs once he is in the chair, so he doesn't have to sit on the lumps.

When the patient is in bed, needing to transfer to a chair, log roll the patient to position the sling.

I use lifts a LOT. They are a real back-protector!

[Nerd eNurse, ADN]

The slings, or lift pads, for the patient lift can easily be removed and replaced when the patient is sitting up. It is more comfortable to take them out from under the thighs once he is in the chair, so he doesn't have to sit on the lumps.

When the patient is in bed, needing to transfer to a chair, log roll the patient to position the sling.

I use lifts a LOT. They are a real back-protector!

I couldn't agree more! Thanks for the post:yes: