FDA's Hospital Bed Safety Work Group

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in partnership with representatives from the medical bed industry, national health care organizations, patient advocacy groups (including Kendal Outreach), and other federal agencies (Health Care Finance Administration (HCFA); Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), and the Veterans Administration), formed a work group in April of 1999 titled The Hospital Bed Safety Workgroup (HBSW). Its goal is to improve the safety of hospital beds for patients who are most vulnerable to the risk of side rail entrapment.

In March of 2006, the FDA released guidelines for use in assessing hospital bed systems. The guidelines represent a major step forward in significantly reducing, if not eliminating death and injury from entrapment. "Hospital Bed System Dimensional and Assessment Guidance to Reduce Entrapment" Read Press Release.

Kendal Outreach leads the effort to disseminate information from the work group and offers a number of resources to provide safe sleep environments in hospitals, nursing homes and residential home environments: 

• Hospital Bed System Dimensional and Assessment Guidance to Reduce Entrapment - released by the FDA, this document provides recommendations for manufacturers of new hospital beds and for facilities with existing beds (including hospitals, nursing homes, and private residences);
• Guide to Bed Safety - an overview of the bed safety issue; packs of 200 copies can be ordered at our ONLINE STORE .
• Clinical Guidance for the Assessment and Implementation of Bed Rails in Hospitals, Long Term Care Facilities, and Home Care Settings - for use by healthcare providers and other clinical staff to assess patients for entrapment risks and to mitigate those risks;
• Do No Harm video - available by ordering through our ONLINE STORE  or by ordering through our catalog.
• Frequently Asked Questions - updated September 2007, with answers from members of the HBSW;
• Families and caregivers can read an article especially for you, published on the AARP website in June 2005.