Warners Bay: Safe in Bed-The Complete Clinical Picture

The bed is one of the most complex environments a therapist must assess. Getting it right requires clinical reasoning across four intersecting areas of risk — bed rails and restrictive practice, profiling bed frame prescription, postural management in lying, and pressure injury prevention — all of which can have serious, and potentially fatal, implications for our clients. Yet in practice, these areas are often addressed in isolation, potentially leaving critical gaps in a client's overall safety and care.

This presentation brings together the clinical evidence and decision-making frameworks you need to confidently assess and prescribe across the full bed system. You will explore the safe and lawful prescription of bed sticks, self-help poles and bed side rails, the clinical application of profiling bed frame functions, strategies to protect and restore body shape through postural management in lying, and how to select and justify the right support surface for pressure injury prevention and management.

Learning Objectives:

• The participant will be able to apply current evidence and the OTA Position Statement to the safe prescription of bed sticks, self-help poles and bed side rails, including entrapment risk, restrictive practice obligations and comprehensive risk assessment.

• The participant will be able to describe the key functions of a profiling bed frame and articulate the clinical indications for their use in falls prevention, safe transfers and pressure care.

• The participant will be able to identify clients at risk of developing unsafe lying postures and implement appropriate postural management strategies to protect and protect body shape in lying.

• The participant will be able to differentiate how static foam, hybrid and alternating air mattress support surfaces work to prevent and manage pressure injuries and select the most appropriate surface based on individual clinical presentation.

• The participant will be able to integrate bed rail prescription, profiling bed frame functions, postural management and pressure care into a holistic bed system assessment that addresses the client's safety across a 24-hour period.

3 CPD points

Presenters:

Sarah Uncle- Head of Clinical Education at ILS

Mel Mathison- Assistive Technology Professional Light Rehab

Gabe Watson- Assistive Technology Professional Light Rehab