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Summary
Bedmaking is a key nursing skill that is essential for the promotion of patient comfort, hygiene and wellbeing. Bedmaking requires technical and practical skills and consideration should be given to issues of safety, moving and handling and infection control practices. In this article the recommended procedures for making an unoccupied bed and an occupied bed are described in detail with reference to supportive literature where relevant.
Keywords
Bedmaking; Infection control; Moving and handling; Patient comfort
These keywords are based on the subject headings from the British Nursing Index. This article has been subject to double-blind review. For author and research article guidelines visit the Nursing Standard home page at www.nursing-standard.co.uk. For related articles visit our online archive and search using the keywords.
BEDMAKING IS a key nursing skill that is essential for the promotion of patient comfort, hygiene and wellbeing (Elkin et al 2003). Attention to these factors is particularly important for many patients in hospital who may be required to spend long periods in bed as a result of immobility, injury or specific health conditions. In this article, the procedures required to make an unoccupied bed and an occupied bed in the hospital environment are described in detail. To maintain a safe environment when making beds in the healthcare setting, essential risk assessments for moving and handling and infection control should be carried out in accordance with local and national policies.
This article describes the procedures for making an unoccupied and an occupied bed where the linen and mattress have not been contaminated by body fluids. In situations where the linen and/or the mattress covering have been contaminated, the procedure for bedmaking will be identical but recommended infection control procedures should be followed for the handling and laundering of linen and cleaning of the mattress. These actions must comply with guidance published by the Department of Health (DH)(1995,2006) and will include appropriate segregation of the contaminated linen, placement into alginate bags and specific colour-coded laundry bags, and prompt collection and transport from the practice environment (Hateley 2003).
Making an unoccupied bed
Safety and patient comfort are of prime importance when making a bed. In some settings bedlinen will not be changed every day, however, any wet or soiled linen should be changed...