Whether you operate a hospital, an extended care facility or home-care medical supplies business, you need to carefully choose which hospital beds for your clients will use. Hospital beds are critical to the comfort and recovery of patients. You want their hospital beds to be as comfortable as possible.

As you study hospital beds information to make an informed choice, keep in mind that a hospital bed typically has three parts. The bed frame often comes in different lengths, and may or may not have electric motors to raise and lower the head and foot portions. The second component is the mattress. Mattresses come in a variety of thicknesses and styles. The third component of a hospital bed consists of the accessories, including the bed rails you choose to add. As you look at hospital beds, you should consider:

1. How many hospital beds you need to purchase.

2. The size and type of hospital beds you wish to use.

3. The cost of the hospital beds, including the frame, mattress and accessories.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Choose manual hospital beds

These hospital beds use a crank to raise and lower the head and foot of the unit. They are simple to operate and are the least expensive hospital beds to purchase.

I recommend: PHC and Associates is a provider of hospital beds that require manual adjustment. The hospital beds list at SpinLife.com includes manual beds.

Go with electric hospital beds for your patients

Electric hospital beds come in two types. Semi-automatic electric hospital beds use an electric remote control device to raise and lower the head and foot of the bed. In order to raise or lower the height of the bed from the floor, you must use a hand crank in a semi-automatic bed. With a full electric hospital bed, you can control all the bed's positions with an electric control switch.

I recommend: Sherman Oaks Medical Supplies, a hospital beds provider, includes semi-electric and full-electric beds on its website. Name Brands Direct offer electric hospital beds on its MedicalProductsDirect.com website.

Find hospital beds for special purposes

There are a lot of specialty hospital beds on the market. Two of the most common are bariatric beds for overweight patients and maternity beds for expectant mothers.

I recommend: You can find hospital beds for bariatric patients at Aria Medical Equipment. Hill-Rom provides a special birthing bed on its medical equipment website.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Choose a hospital beds provider that offers service after the sale. Even if you choose manual-style hospital beds that have cranks, they still need service from time to time.
• •  Purchase hospital beds from a company that offers to set up the hospital beds for you. That way, you know the beds will operate properly from day one. This is an essential service for higher-priced full-electric hospital beds and specialty beds.