A patient support apparatus includes a deck, a plurality of side rails, a control panel, and a plurality of subsystems, such as a bed exit system that detects when a patient may exit from the support apparatus, or a lifting mechanism to raise and lower the deck. A controller is in communication with the control panel and is adapted to monitor conditions regarding the side rails and/or the other subsystems. At least one lamp is also provided on the patient support apparatus that is adapted to be illuminated in a first manner when a plurality of monitored conditions remain in a desired state, and in a second manner when at least one of the plurality of monitored conditions changes to an undesired state.

A patient support apparatus includes a support structure having a patient support deck and a side rail coupled to the support structure. The side rail is movable relative to the support structure. A lock releasably locks the side rail in one or more side rail positions, such as in a raised position and an intermediate position. A manual release is coupled to the side rail and operable to unlock the side rail. A bypass lever is provided to allow a user to raise the side rail from a lowered position to the raised position without locking in the intermediate position. A damper is located inside the side rail to counterbalance the weight of the side rail and assist the user in raising the side rail, bi-directionally. The side rail is formed of first and second walls that are heat staked together to form a lightweight side rail of suitable strength.

In one aspect, a bed including a rotationally molded body. The body has a unitary, one-piece construction. The body includes a bed pan for receiving a mattress. The body further includes safety rail portions of the body on opposite sides of the bed pan. The safety rail portions are configured to extend above the mattress received on the bedpan and inhibit a user from falling out of the bed.