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.

Safety guards for use with a bed rail are disclosed. A safety guard may be coupled to a mattress without being coupled to a bed rail, or a safety guard may be coupled to a mattress and to a bed rail. The safety guards may reduce a risk of entrapment between the mattress and the bed rail by distributing weight on the mattress across a wide surface area. A safety guard may be disposed underneath a sheet on the mattress. The safety guard may remain coupled to the mattress without inhibiting changing of sheets on the mattress.

A pad assembly for an occupant platform having rails. The pad assembly includes a foam pad comprising an outward portion that covers an outward face of one rail and a top portion that covers a top end of the one rail. The pad assembly also includes an inner casing that encases and is attached to the foam pad and an outer cover that covers the inner casing. The outer cover has a fastener for securing the pad assembly to the one rail.

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.

Bed restraining apparatus is provided including at least one bed rail protective portion for at least partly covering a surface of a bed rail in use, and at least one bed restraining portion for location over at least part of a bed in use, so as to be located between opposing sides of a bed in use and/or so as to be located between bed rails on opposing sides of a bed in use. Thee at least one bed rail protective portion is arranged so as to at least partly cover an inwardly facing side wall or side wall frame member of the bed rail in use.

According to an embodiment, a structure is detachably attached to a bed apparatus. The bed apparatus includes a holder and a first frame that includes a portion extending in a first direction. The structure includes: a first portion of a columnar shape extending in a second direction that intersects the first direction; and a second portion continuous to the first portion and including a portion extending in a third direction that intersects the second direction. The first portion is inserted in the holder so that the holder holds the structure. When the structure is attached to the bed apparatus, an angle between the first direction and the third direction is variable. The structure that can facilitate aid of bed departure can be provided.

A first embodiment provides a manually operable castor assembly for a hospital bed, including a wheel unit fittable to a bed frame and provided with a lock actuator. A sensor unit is provided with a trigger element and a sensor element, the trigger element being located on the manually operable brake actuator and the sensor element being located on the wheel unit. Another embodiment provides a manually operable safety side panel assembly including a hinge assembly coupled to the panel element and attachable to a bed frame, and a sensor unit including a trigger element and a sensor element, the trigger element being located on the manually operable actuator and the sensor element being located on a part of the side panel or hinge assembly. Monitoring apparatus monitors the manually operable bed safety device and including a control unit coupled to the sensor unit and an indicator unit controllable by the control unit and operable to give an indication of the state of the device.

System for preventing a patient from falling from a bed, the system comprising first and second protective side barriers adapted to be positioned along first and second side edges of the bed, respectively, and are configured to be lifted or lowered by varying the height thereof from minimum to maximum height. The system includes anchoring means for fixing the protective side barriers to a bed frame, sensors adapted to detect the position taken by the patient on a mattress of the bed, and a control unit configured to receive data collected by the sensors and, on the basis of the data, determine in real time a lifting or lowering of a predetermined extent of the protective side barriers, up to heights of the protective side barriers ranging between the minimum and the maximum height, depending on the position taken by the patient on the mattress.

An exit prediction system for a support apparatus receives data inputs from one or more force sensors without zeroing the one or more force sensors. Changes in the data inputs are detected to determine whether the detected changes indicate a movement trend. An exit prediction is determined based at least partially on the movement trend, and without combining the data inputs from the one or more force sensors to determine the occupant's weight. A notification is generated based on the exit prediction.

A method and system for patient monitoring, the system comprising a surveillance camera configured to generate a plurality of frames showing an area in which a patient in a bed is being monitored, and a computer system comprising memory and logic circuitry configured to determine bed rails positions of the bed, identify a position of the patient, and generate signals that control the bed rails of a bed based on the bed rails positions and the position of the patient.