By Healthcare Facilities Today

Ministry Saint Joseph’s Hospital in Marshfield, Wis., recently tackled the job of assembling and replacing 300 beds throughout the facility, according to a Stevens Point Journal article.

About 90 percent of the hospital’s beds, some of which have been in use since the early 1980s, are being replaced. The project cost $4.9 million according to Wayne Pattengill, the hospital's director of environmental and central transport services.

The new beds are equipped with fall prevention mechanisms and alarms, which providers can program based on patient needs. Staff can program beds to sound an alarm if slight movement is detected for high fall-risk patients or program alarms to be less sensitive for low-risk patients. The beds can be programmed to alert staff if railings, bed height or head elevation has been changed, according to the article.

“These beds can go to a lower height, which reduces the risk of falls, and if a patient does fall, reduces the risk of injury,” said Saint Joseph’s Hospital wound care nurse Kathy Knetter, adding that pneumonia and aspiration risk will be reduced because staff can precisely program the angle of the bed.

Read the article.