Gerontology 130 Unit 16 "Getting a Person Out of Bed" Transcript

"Getting a Person Out of Bed" Transcript

Getting a Person Out of Bed

One of the things that you will often be required to do when caring for a loved one is get them out of bed. And, there are a couple of things you want to keep in mind.

Those things we have already mentioned stability and body mechanics. And, one of the first things you want to do is flex the person's knees it makes them shorter and a little easier for you to handle and move.

The next thing you want to do, we said you want the person close to you when you move them so you would want to move their shoulders first to one side of the bed, and then their hip.

Then again, as we said, you want the person to assist as much as possible in any movement. You want to give them the directions that you are going to turn them on their side; if they can help you, they are going to reach to the side you are turning to. And, if you need to you can assist them at the knees.

Once you have them side lying, we are going to do again is use some physical principles. As their legs come down, their upper body comes up and there is less work for you. So simultaneously, or at the same time, the legs come down and you assist them as much as you need to.

But, they can also assist by pushing with their arm, because remember you always want them to assist as much as possible in any movements you do with them. It's better for them and is also better for your back and your health if they do as much work as possible.

Why don't we go through that once more quickly? And, we'll just show you the motions of how you would get your loved one out of bed.

You want to shorten the length of their body. Flexing their knees. You want to move them close to you. And, you will first do that with the shoulders and then with the hips. We said the weight was centered at the hips. You want them to turn on their side. And, if they can help you by reaching towards the direction where they are going. Or you can assist them to do that. When they are on their side they can help push up with their arm while you lower their legs. We have a seesaw kind of thing going on and it is easier to get them to a sitting position. Once you have them in the sitting position, remember you want to leave them for a moment or two to get orientated to that position before you move them again.