| How
much space should each teaching bed area accommodate? |
Answer |
Each
bed area must be large enough to allow placement
of a bed, ancillary equipment, fixed objects and
students. In a hospital acute care setting a typical
semi-private room will use a 10ft x 10ft (100ft2)
per lab bed area. This allows a three-foot perimeter
around the bed for patient care. |
| How
big is a hospital bed? |
Answer |
| A
hospital bed is 7 foot long from headboard to footboard
and 3ft 7 inches wide with the bed rails up. You
may wish to take some masking tape and tape out
a typical area. Place the lab equipment required
in the area and make sure that it is a workable
space with the students and staff. |
| How
are the services provided? |
Answer |
| Services
behind the bed in a hospital setting typically are
provided in one of three ways, as outlets mounted
in the wall with an accessory rail, a Flatwall headwall
system or a Horizontal Rail headwall system. |
| What
services are typically provided per teaching bed
area? |
Answer |
| Each
bed should have medical gas and electrical outlets
to simulate a patient care setting. We recommend
as a minimum each lab bed area have 1 Oxygen outlet,
1 Vacuum outlet, 1 duplex normal electrical outlet
(ivory color) and 1 duplex emergency electrical
outlet (red color). Note, life safety equipment
is typically plugged into emergency power red outlets.
Additional services may be a medical air outlet
(if ventilators will be used in demonstrations),
nurse call and patient data provisions. |
| How
high should the services be mounted? |
Answer |
| The
services mentioned above should be about 56 inches
above the floor and not directly behind the bed.
This allows easy access to them from any position. |
| Are
the medical gases interchangeable? |
Answer |
| All
medical gas outlets are “Keyed” this
prevents interchangeability between different gas
types, such as medical Air and Oxygen. Medical gas
outlets are either a quick connect version or DISS
type. The quick connect is a snap in connection
of the flowmeters or vacuum regulators to the medical
gas outlets while the DISS type is a screw connection. |
| What
kind of patient lighting is most common in hospitals? |
Answer |
| An
over bed light with an exam flip down feature is
provided in most hospitals. Consider having at least
one in a lab bed area with this feature so students
are aware of the system and how it works. |
| Should
we provide curtains between lab bed areas? |
Answer |
| Semi-private
rooms still exist in hospitals; cubical track and
curtains help students realize the need for privacy
when working with the patient, especially during
discussions regarding HIPPA requirements. |
| What
about infection control? |
Answer |
| Most
hospitals now have hand cleaner dispenser in every
room to meet JACHO infection control requirements. |
| What
is the difference between a mock up headwall (power
pole) or fully functional unit? |
Answer |
The
biggest question is to provide a “mock up”
or fully functional version of the services in
a headwall. In a mock up version all of the services
are provide but they are not functional. Headwall
units or surface mounted services are simply mounted
to the wall. This is a relatively inexpensive
way to replicate the patient room environment.
A fully functional lab is a bit more of an investment
than a mock up but provides an accurate learning
environment. In this case the headwalls are mounted,
electrically wired and source equipment connected
to the headwalls to simulate vacuum, oxygen and
compressed air. Typically this work is done by
a contractor and coordinated through the equipment
supplier. To determine the cost HFR can have a
project engineer visit your facility and determine
a cost estimate. (See sales
and service section). |
| What
kind of headwall accessories should I provide in
the lab? |
Answer |
| There
are a variety of headwall accessory items that may
be required such as vacuum regulators, Oxygen and
Air flowmeters, sharps containers, IV hooks, pump
mounts, vacuum bottle slides, and an Aneroid manometer
and cuff basket. |
| What
about storage? |
Answer |
| Storage
may be built into the lab setting but a more common
method is to provide critical care carts that have
baskets and a lockable compartment for meds built
in. This system provides flexibility in the lab
setting. |
| There
are so many hospital bed types what works best in
a lab setting and what features are minimally required? |
Answer |
New
hospital beds can run from $4,500 to over $25,000
for highly specialized designs. The basic bed
design is fairly simple and consists of a steel
frame, motors, a brake and steer mechanism, electric
controls located on the bed rails that will move
the bed in various positions, and a headboard/footboard.
The mattress should be of hospital grade and sealed.
Higher end beds have advanced communication packages,
bed exit systems and patient surfaces that reduce
skin breakdown. In a teaching application the
bed should accurately reflect the features of
beds in hospitals, be extremely reliable and not
be excessively priced. A remanufactured and warranted
hospital bed by is usually the best investment
and can save thousands over the cost of new beds.
Features to consider when purchasing a hospital
bed for a skills lab:
 Electric,
all acute care hospital beds are completely
electric where functions that raise and lower
the bed, head and knee are done by a series
of motors and drive mechanisms.
Centralized
brake and steer, this is a feature that is essential
in a hospital where the beds are moved
from room to room but in a lab it may not be
worth the investment.
Retractable,
keeps the patient relative to the fixed items
in the room, important in a hospital, but not
required in a lab.
Scale,
typically an ICU requirement is an electronic
mechanism that will weigh the patient.
Other
bed options exist such as birthing beds, ICU
style beds or high-end beds such as the
Hill-Rom Advanced series.
The
pros are that these beds duplicate what appears
in many hospitals today but they are more complicated
and may be subject to failure more often than
the simple bed designs.
|
| What
kind of furniture should I consider to simulate
a patient room? |
Answer |
| A
bedside cabinet, overbed table and patient chair
all add to the realism of the laboratory patient
room. |
| What
about traction equipment? |
Answer |
| We
suggest that you outfit at least one bed with traction
equipment. |
| What
can I do about training equipment? |
Answer |
Equipment
such as defibrillators, warming table, incubator,
bassinet, crib, wheelchair, stretcher, carts,
IV poles and pumps, EKG monitor, Exam tables are
all available from HFR as used or refurbished
equipment. All are functional and suitable for
training and offer huge savings over new versions.
Nursing Labs can also source special equiment
on request. |
