Hospital beds and stretchers are arguably a medical facility’s most essential piece of equipment. They are used by every admitted patient and perform a multitude of functions beyond simply serving as a place to rest. That is why it is important for your hospital beds to continuously be in good working order for your entire medical facility to function.
Although hospital beds are essential, it’s easy to let hospital bed maintenance and necessary hospital bed repairs slip off the radar. There are several parts of a hospital bed that can malfunction or break. Poorly maintained and end-of-life hospital beds may not provide the technologically advanced functions required for your medical team to perform their jobs effectively.
The Importance of Hospital Bed Repair and Maintenance
Hospital bed repair and maintenance is crucial simply because the availability of functioning hospital beds in your facility is directly tied to your hospital’s ability to care for your patients.
Every hour a hospital bed is out of service due because it needs repairs or replacement equals one less patient that a hospital can treat or one more bed that you need to rent. As a result, having fewer beds on your floor means there is a higher risk of reaching capacity and being forced to turn away patients. That situation has heightened significantly ever since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.
In addition, hospital beds are more than just a fixture in a hospital room. They are outfitted with advanced technology that is growing increasingly complex, which provides a wealth of services frompatient monitoring to transportation.
In essence, if you need facility-wide hospital bed repair, you may be on the verge of an emergency. As such, it’s essential to have an experienced hospital bed repair technician or hospital bed repair company on call and on hand, to avoid a costly crisis.
Should You Outsource Hospital Bed Repair Services?
Hospital beds are commonly treated as non-technical components of a standard hospital room. Additionally, they are the backbone of a hospital. Hospital beds have many technologically advanced features that are continuously used to provide healthcare. Proper repair and maintenance of hospital beds can often be a complex yet imperative process.
For many decades, in-house facilities management teams have been at the frontlines of hospital bed repairs. However, that has changed in recent history because of the increase of the advanced features.
Hospital Bed Repair Requires More Technological Expertise
In our modern era, hospital beds use enhanced technology and capabilities to improve patient care across the board, from modern lift and bed controls to USB ports for patient and doctor use, to alarms and sensors to monitor patients at all times.
As a result, hospital bed repair requires extensive training in all aspects of themodern hospital bed: from the mechanical components like the wheels and handrails to the intricate technology that provides real-time patient data.
An Influx of Patients and a Decrease in Space
The Coronavirus pandemic pushed hospitals and medical facilities to their limits. While COVID has become less of a national emergency, there is still an influx of patients across the board. Additionally, there is a need for nationwide hospital bed repairs on a routine basis.
Coupled with this increase in patients is a need for more storage space at hospitals of all sizes. This means that until they are serviced, old hospital beds or beds that need repair continue to take up valuable space within the hospital.
A Hospital Bed Repair Staffing Shortage
In order to address modern hospital bed repair, your biomed teams or in-house healthcare technology management personnel need to be well-versed in a broad range of technologies, from IT knowledge to electronics, pneumatics, and the mechanical basics.
Your team may not have the bandwidth to regularly address more complicated and time-consuming hospital bed repairs as in-house personnel become responsible for more and more equipment throughout a hospital setting.
In addition, your staff may not be able to keep up with the daily repair needs of hospital beds. Therefore, even with a small influx of broken hospital beds can quickly get out of hand. When it comes to hospital bed repair or hospital bed replacement, consistency is key. Delayed repairs can lead to delayed care.
One Team for All Your Hospital Bed Repairs and Healthcare Technology
Emeritus is a true medical technology partner, offering a flexible and comprehensive range of services, from initial installations, functional verifications, and inventory documentation to asset tracking, preventive maintenance schedules, and decommissioning.
Our company services all makes and models of hospital beds and stretchers. Our expert team is dedicated to helping government and private hospitals maintain and optimize their assets to ensure the highest quality healthcare is delivered efficiently and safely.
The true power of the program lies in the relationships between the Emeritus team and the hospital staff. The technicians and service managers work in close coordination with the internal departments to ensure the right level of support.
Should You Repair or Replace Your Hospital Beds?
One of the first questions you need to address is whether your facility requires hospital bed repair or hospital bed replacement. There are some indications on when hospital bed repair can suffice or a total hospital bed replacement is required to maintain quality of care.
How to Determine When to Replace vs Repair
Often, an old hospital bed can have a myriad of problems that could be more costly or time-consuming to fix. Sings that a hospital bed replacement is necessary include the following:
- Past its End-of-life: The average hospital bed has a lifespan of 10-15 years, so if your hospital beds are outside this window, a hospital bed repair may be inefficient.
- Severe damage: Severe damage includes multiple hospital bed parts that are not functioning or need repair. Also, it can’t be easily replaced due to age and hospital bed part availability. When many parts of a hospital bed need to be addressed, it may be more cost-effective to opt for a total hospital bed replacement.
- A long history of hospital bed repairs: If a hospital bed has been repaired or serviced by a hospital bed repair technician multiple times, it may be time to consider a replacement as opposed to routinely addressing multiple issues.
Did You Decide to Repair the Hospital Beds? Here’s What You Need to Know
Hospital beds consist of multiple moving parts that can be either simple to fix, or more difficult. Basic components of your hospital bed, like the wheels and cables, are easily repaired by biomedical or facility engineers.
However, other hospital bed repairs such as circuit board replacements and software updates require an experienced technician with specialized tools.
This means that an experienced hospital bed repair technician is required. If you don’t have these technicians readily available, your medical facility may need to partner with an experienced company that offers service from skilled technicians with an extensive background in hospital bed repair.
So, if there is uncertainty about how well your staff can efficiently perform a hospital bed repair, the smartest next step is connecting with an experienced hospital bed repair company or hospital bed repair technician. Since hospital beds are vital to the functioning of your facility and medical staff, hospital bed repair and maintenance should be performed according to manufacturer and regulatory requirements.
Finding the Right Technician for Hospital Bed Repair & Maintenance Program
Believe it or not, not all biomeds love working on beds. Combined with the industry’s lack of qualified technicians, hiring a bed maintenance technician can be very difficult. Even if you hire and train someone, how long will they stay before wanting to move on to other devices? Sometimes it just makes more sense to outsource this hiring and training problem to someone else.
That’s where partnering with a company that specializes in not only the maintenance of hospitals beds but also the hiring and training of qualified technicians can really help ensure the right level of support is provided to your hospital and its patients.
Emeritus is Your Solution for Hospital Bed Repairs and Maintenance
Emeritus brings the expertise of hospital bed repair service near you with our unique approach. Take a look at our ALWAYS-ON-SITE hospital bed repair model. Our bed maintenance program has a dedicated service technician on-site during general business hours reducing response times to near-zero.
This simplifies communication regarding hospital bed repair and eliminates the need for multiple contracts with a single point of contact, THE POWER OF ONE.
In addition, the program features a simplified contracting process, reduced administrative burden, and a single contract for all hospital bed and stretcher service needs.
Upgrade Your Hospital Bed Maintenance Program
At Emeritus, we believe there is no other piece of medical equipment more important to patient safety and satisfaction than hospital beds. That’s why we re-invented the hospital bed maintenance program.
Additionally, the Emeritus Hospital Bed Maintenance Program is a game-changer for hospitals looking to improve their hospital bed maintenance services. With the always-onsite service, your facility can obtain a single contract for all hospital beds and stretcher needs, increased equipment uptime, and significant cost savings.
Our services offer a comprehensive solution that you can customize to the specific needs of each hospital. Upgrading your hospital bed maintenance program with Emeritus is the best solution for your healthcare organization.
The Benefits of Partnering with a Hospital Bed Repair Company
There are a number of drawbacks to trying to keep hospital bed services and repairs in-house. Also, there are several benefits to outsourcing this important aspect of maintaining your healthcare facility.
- Reduced costs – A hospital bed repair company can help reduce costs immediately by performing repairs quickly and efficiently. Additionally, proper maintenance extends the life of your medical equipment, saving off replacement costs.
- Reduced risks – Considering that hospital beds have a multitude of safety features meant to protect patients. A malfunctioning hospital bed can create risks for patients. As such, ensuring that this essential medical device is in good working order is a foundational part of a well-operated healthcare facility.
- Reduced downtime – Broken hospital beds can have negative and far-reaching downstream effects on hospital efficiencies. Our service model maintains a healthy supply of commonly used repair parts on-site allowing us to address repairs quickly.
- Reliability – By enlisting a professional hospital bed repair company, you can ensure that emergencies can be addressed consistently for your healthcare facility. Stop waiting weeks for the hospital bed technician to show up. Partner with a company that offers always on-site service, so that you can eliminate downtime and increase peace of mind.
What to Look for in a Hospital Bed Repair Company: The Essential Questions
When it comes to hospital bed repair companies, not all organizations or operations are the same. So before selecting a partner, be sure to ask (and answer) the following questions:
Can I find a hospital bed repair technician near me or hospital bed service near me?
The first step to finding a partner is ensuring availability and proximity. When your facility needs hospital bed repairs and service, timely service is important. That is why it’s essential that your hospital bed repair technician is within your area, and better-yet Always On-Site.
Remember that you can search for “hospital bed repair near me” to find local results. However, proximity is just one factor you should look for when selecting a hospital bed repair company.
Can this company meet all our hospital bed repair needs?
As stated, modern beds are more than just mechanical parts. As such, you need a hospital bed repair company to develop a comprehensive hospital bed repair program. Also, you need to utilize experienced technicians, sophisticated tools, and technology.
With specialty beds that have the technological capability to support patient communication and record real-time patient data, you need to partner with a company that can address potential hardware and software issues.
Does this hospital bed repair company work with our specific beds?
It’s essential to have a hospital bed repair company with expertise in all brands of hospital beds and stretchers that your medical facility utilizes. At Emeritus, we service all makes and models of equipment including, Hill-Rom, Joerns, Stryker, and Arjo Huntleigh. We promise fast response times and use only OEM parts and accessories.
Can this hospital bed repair company address issues on-site and fast?
A lack of storage facilities for malfunctioning hospital beds and high rental costs can be a huge issue for medical facilities of all sizes. As such, it’s imperative that your hospital bed repair company offers an effective maintenance program the reduces rental costs. Emeritus’ Always On-Site service feature is a prime example of this attribute. We are reducing downtime, always using on-site service models and on-site parts inventories.
Is this hospital bed repair company proactive?
One of the best ways to reduce hospital bed repairs and replacements is with an effective preventive maintenance program. Therefore, identifying potential issues before they become emergencies can save time, costs, and lives. At Emeritus, we provide scheduled preventative maintenance, real-time inventories, and regulatory documentation. We ensure that we can pinpoint any hospital bed maintenance problems before they have a chance to disrupt your operations.
Ready to Resolve the Long-term Issue of Hospital Bed Repair?
Emeritus Can Help!
Proper hospital bed repair and maintenance is a time-consuming endeavor that can’t be ignored. Your hospital beds are the heart of your facility, and when it comes to both routine and emergency hospital bed repair or replacement, you don’t have to do it alone.
Today, you can simplify ALL your hospital bed and stretcher maintenance needs with a single contract and a single point of contact. Emeritus provides the highest quality maintenance required for the best patient care delivery and ensures that your medical facility operates smoothly without interruption.
