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The Importance of Making a Bed
Making a resident’s bed is an important and common task for nurse assistants in almost any healthcare setting. A correctly made bed has clean and dry sheets that do not have wrinkles or creases. A correctly made bed will help to reduce pressure sores or bedsores. A clean bed is a way to help with infection control.
The supplies needed to make a bed in a healthcare facility include gloves, a mattress pad, and clean linens. The clean linens used in most areas are a flat fitted sheet, a loose top sheet, and a pillowcase. In addition, the nurse assistant may need to lower the bed and use the bed’s side rails if required by a resident’s care plan.
Nurse assistants should follow the health care facility’s schedule of making and changing beds. However, a bed needs to be changed whenever the linens become soiled or dirty.
There are two common types of beds to make: an open bed and a closed bed. An open bed has the sheets and blankets down towards the foot end to allow the resident to get in easily. A closed bed has the sheets and blankets pulled up to the top of the bed.
It is important for a nurse assistant to remember to not place linens on the floor, allow them to touch a uniform, or shake them out. These actions may spread pathogens in the room. The soiled linens must be placed into the soiled linen hamper.
A clean and smooth bed provides comfort to the resident. It also is a method of infection control to reduce pathogens that can lead to illness.
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