If you know in advance that the sick person will have to spend a long time in bed, consider hiring, or even buying, a hospital bed. Since home nursing care frequently will not include a hospital bed, here are suggestions applicable to the ordinary household bed.
To keep the patient from falling out of bed, place a kitchen chair with its back against the bed, or tie a row of chairs together and put them with their backs to the side of the bed.
You can improvise a bed table on which to serve meals. Try setting up the ironing board so that it extends over the patient’s lap.
The diagram below shows methods of placing the pillows to make the patient comfortable. Another pillow at the foot of the bed will also keep him from slipping, keep the blankets off his feet, and will give him more room to move his legs.
How to make the bed
Hospital beds are made up with the following, in the order listed: mattress pad, bottom sheet, drawsheet (a narrow sheet placed crosswise underneath the patient’s trunk and pulled tight), top sheet, blanket(s), spread, and pillowcases.
The square corner is essential. With a little practice, you can learn how to make a square corner and pull the under sheet tight enough to keep it from wrinkling. Stand at the side of the bed on which you are working, facing first the head and then the foot, and complete one side before going around to the other.
Making a bed with someone in it seems difficult, but can easily be learnt. Follow these directions: (1) Remove the spread and loosen the blanket at the foot and sides. Reach under it and remove the top sheet, leaving the blanket to cover the patient. (2) Loosen the drawsheet, fan-folding it towards the patient so that it lies close to him, parallel with his body. Loosen the bottom sheet; you do not need to remove it unless it has become soiled. Smooth the mattress pad and the bottom sheet, and tuck in the bottom sheet, squaring the corners and making certain it is neat and free from crumbs. (3) Put the clean drawsheet on the bed with its midfold in the centre of the bed, tucking in the side on which you are working. Fan-fold the other half of the drawsheet that will cover the part of the bed on which the patient is lying. Put the fan-folded part over the fan-folded old sheet. (4) Help the patient to roll towards you over the fan-folded part of the two sheets, so that he is on his side facing you. Now go to the other side of the bed, and attend to the mattress pad and the bottom sheet as you did on the first side. Pull out the soiled drawsheet over which the patient has rolled, and put it aside to be washed. Next pull the clean drawsheet tight, and smooth and tuck it in. (5) Put a clean op sheet over the blanket, and remove the blanket while you tuck this sheet in at the foot of the bed and spread it over the patient. Replace the blanket, and make the foot and sides of the bed. Then change the pillowcases, and the bed is finished.
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