Preventing hospital bed fires in nursing homes

The Food and Drug Administration reported that it had received 95 reports from 1993 to 2003 of fires involving electrically powered hospital beds, with 75 percent associated with failed motor starting capacitors and overheated motors.Awareness of fire risks and precautions related to electrically operated beds is important to protect nursing home residents and staff against the risk of injury or death and to prevent significant property damage.

Here are some safety tips from Nursing Homes Magazine to prevent fires caused by hospital beds:

* When plugging in a bed, visually inspect the bed’s power cord for damage from, among other possibilities, use, age, crushing, pinching, shearing, cutting, cleaning solutions, bed movement, human and equipment traffic, and furniture placement
* After inspection, connect the power cord directly into a wall-mounted outlet that is in good working order and capable of accommodating a heavy-duty or hospital-grade plug.
* Do not cover the bed’s power cord with a rug or carpet. Doing so may impede normal air flow which, in turn, can lead to greater heat buildup.
* Test the bed to ensure that it moves freely to its full limit. Confirm that the bed’s vertical motion does not interfere with the bed’s power cord or plug.
* Examine the bed’s hand and panel controls, including patient lockout features, to ensure that the bed is working properly and can move freely without damaging any cords.
* Check bed-occupancy monitors and all other equipment in the resident’s room that has plug-in power supplies for indications of overheating or physical damage.

Maintaining electric power during a disaster

JCAHO recently issued a Sentinel Event Alert that recommends specific steps healthcare organizations can take to maintain electrical power supply during a natural disaster.

According to the Alert, compliance with minimum National Fire Protection Association codes is not enough to assure the safety of patients and their care during an emergency situation. Many health care organizations did not have sufficient power to ventilate facilities in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and patient evacuations were delayed because of the unavailability of electricity-dependent elevators to transport patients.

To reduce risks to patients created by power failures, JCAHO’s Alert recommends steps that health care organizations take:

· Match the critical equipment and systems needed in an extended emergency against the equipment and systems actually on the emergency power system.
· Inventory emergency power systems and the loads they serve.
· Provide training for and test those who operate and maintain the emergency power supply system.
· Ensure that generator fuel is available and usable.
· Assure that the organization management and clinical leaders know how long emergency power will be available and what locations within the facility will and will not have emergency power in the event of an electrical outage.
· Establish contingency plans for doctors and other caregivers to follow during losses of electrical power.

In addition to the Alert, the Joint Commission is adding a new requirement in 2007 that organizations test emergency generators at least once every 36 months for a minimum of four continuous hours. Facilities already must test their generators 12 times a year for 30 minutes. If a test fails, the organization must immediately implement stop-gap measures until a permanent fix can be put into place.