Effects of Bed Height on Balance during Ingress and Egress from a Hospital Bed

Patient falls from hospital beds are a major safety concern in hospitals, with bed ingress and egress alone responsible for most falls. Despite previous insights, no research has systematically assessed how bed height affects balance during ingress and egress.

Our study aimed to quantify individuals' balance during hospital bed ingress and egress at different heights by analyzing the components of ground reaction forces.

Based on the experiment conducted in a previous study, ground reaction forces were collected from twenty-four healthy adults during ingress and egress from a hospital bed at different heights. Component force vectors for each foot were evaluated, and data was statistically analyzed using a two-factor Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) with follow-up post-hoc Tukey tests.

Significant imbalance was found in the medial-lateral direction for both feet at all bed heights during ingress and egress trials. A more balanced approach between the two feet was observed for the longitudinal direction, with mid-range heights demonstrating more optimal ground reaction forces.

Our results revealed that individuals had better balance in the longitudinal direction for medium bed heights (51 to 66 cm) during ingress and egress. We provided further insights into the specific balance impairment during ingress and egress trials, indicating some left-right feet differences. In summary, medium bed heights (51 to 66 cm) resulted in the most stable balance with fewer differences between the right and left feet, suggesting that low and high bed heights may place patients at a higher risk of falling.