Spotting Errors Before the System Arrives at the Facility

Facility personnel are not the only ones who bear some responsibility for ensuring the safety of bed rails in the institutional setting. Although they are the end users, these personnel may not have received adequate education, training, or warnings about hazards from the facility itself or the supplier that delivered the equipment. At the same time, the supplier may be delivering a bed that does not comply with the facility's requirements regarding bed rails.

Even though the most common cause of entrapments happens in the facility, according to a 2002 report from The Joint Commission, fault does not lie solely with the facility. The facility does not operate in a vacuum, but instead works in a relationship with the supplier and manufacturer. The supplier serves as the middle point between the manufacturer and facility, and is responsible for delivery and education. Additionally, the supplier may have some marketing responsibilities. Likewise, the manufacturer should provide bold warnings about the hazards associated with bed rails and ought to track the rate of problems with the rail in question. The manufacturer should notify the supplier of these concerns, as well as notifying the Food and Drug Administration.

Even though a supplier may not necessarily have the legal requirement to notify a facility of hazards and incidents associated with the use of bed rails, they do have a moral requirement to represent the product accurately. For beds advertised as a "reduced gap" rail, this means informing the facility how to use the rails properly and how to implement fillers that are necessary to truly reduce this gap. Indeed, suppliers often deliver beds without providing detailed instructions or warnings about the bed system and side rails.

The supplier may not be exercising negligence by not informing the facility of hazards. The suppliers tend to have little interaction with the end user (the personnel responsible for using the restraints and rails), and may not know about prior incidents with the model of bed rail being delivered. Suppliers and representatives are often trained poorly, and may not have the knowledge to pass along to the facilities. Without this knowledge, facilities cannot train their providers regarding the safe and optimal use of bed rails.

Facilities receive the bed rails either directly from the manufacturer or from the supplier. Beds can either be ordered or bought outright, or a facility may opt to lease the system from the supplier. The facility's decision likely will be based on costs and financing available from the supplier. A facility also may choose a particular supplier based on the relationship the facility has had in the past with the supplier.

Many facilities may have policies that prohibit the use of bed rails as restraints. This doesn't mean, however, that the beds will be delivered without them or that it will be easy to remove the rails to comply with the policy. Some facilities, in light of having little education about the bed rails, may opt to keep the rails instead of removing them.

The facility may not be aware of the dangers associated with bed rails, even if they have made protocol to prohibit the use of them. Knowledge of bed rail hazards, incidents, and deaths may not be something that a facility tracks routinely. Instead, they may rely upon warnings from the supplier, The Joint Commission, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and the FDA. If the information is not easy to find, the facility may not be aware of the specific dangers and warnings.

Free Bed Rail Case Review

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