APPENDIX
The FDA’s Brochure
38
Patient or Family Concerns About Bed Rail Use
If patients or family ask about using bed rails, health care providers should:
• Encourage patients or family to talk to their health care planning team to determine
whether or not bed rails are indicated.
• Reassure patients and their families that in many cases the patient can sleep safely
without bed rails.
• Reassess the need for using bed rails on a frequent, regular basis.
To report an adverse event or medical device problem, please call FDA’s MedWatch
Reporting Program at 1-800-FDA-1088.
For additional copies of the brochure, see the FDA’s website at http://www.fda.gov/cdrh/
beds/
For more information about this brochure, contact Beryl Goldman at 610-388-5580 or by
e-mail at bgoldman@kcorp.kendal.org. She has volunteered to answer questions.
For information regarding a specific hospital bed, contact the bed manufacturer directly.
Developed by the Hospital Bed Safety Workgroup
Participating Organizations:
• AARP
• ABA Tort and Insurance Practice
Section
• American Association of Homes and
Services for the Aging
• American Health Care Association
• American Medical Directors
Association
• American Nurses Association
• American Society for Healthcare
Engineering of the American Hospital
Association
• American Society for Healthcare Risk
Management
• Basic American Metal Products
• Beverly Enterprises, Inc.
• Care Providers of Minnesota
• Carroll Healthcare
• DePaul College of Law
• ECRI
• Evangelical Lutheran Good Samaritan
Society
• Hill-Rom Co., Inc.
• Joint Commission on Accreditation of
Healthcare Organizations
• Medical Devices Bureau, Health
Canada
• National Association for Home Care
• National Citizens’ Coalition for
Nursing Home Reform
• National Patient Safety Foundation
• RN+ Systems
• Stryker Medical
• Sunrise Medical, Inc.
• The Jewish Home and Hospital
• Untie the Elderly, The Kendal
Corporation
• U.S. Food and Drug Administration
Updated March 2006
