Bedside table is a staple piece of hospital equipment found at the point of care in most inpatient and many outpatient environments. While it is often viewed as “just furniture,” its design and day-to-day use can materially affect patient dignity, workflow efficiency, infection prevention, medication/valuables security, and the risk of avoidable incidents such as falls, tip-overs, or cross-contamination.
Alternating pressure mattress is a powered support surface used in hospitals, long-term care, and community settings to help redistribute pressure under a patient’s body by cyclically inflating and deflating air cells. It is widely used as part of broader pressure injury prevention and management programs, especially for patients with limited mobility or higher clinical acuity.
Mattress pressure redistribution is a category of hospital equipment designed to help spread a patient’s weight over a larger surface area, with the aim of reducing sustained high pressure on vulnerable body areas during prolonged bed rest. Depending on the design, it may also help manage shear, friction, and microclimate (heat and moisture at the skin–support surface interface). These systems are widely used in acute care, long-term care, rehabilitation, and home care settings as part of broader pressure injury prevention and management programs.
A **Bedside rail system** is a safety-related accessory or integrated feature of a hospital bed designed to provide a supportive boundary and handhold alongside the mattress. In day-to-day care, it can help certain patients reposition, sit up, or stabilize during transfers, while also supporting clinical workflows such as patient transport and line management.
A Bariatric bed is specialized hospital equipment designed to safely support, position, and mobilize patients whose weight, body dimensions, or handling needs exceed the safe limits of a standard medical-surgical bed. In modern hospitals and clinics, it is both a patient-safety device and a workforce-safety medical device: it helps reduce risks such as falls, pressure injuries, equipment failure from overload, and staff musculoskeletal injury during transfers and repositioning.
Hospital bed manual is a core piece of hospital equipment designed to support patients safely while enabling caregivers to position, examine, transport (within limits), and provide routine care more efficiently. Unlike powered hospital beds, a Hospital bed manual typically relies on mechanical levers and/or hand cranks to adjust bed height and platform sections such as the backrest and knee/leg support (features vary by manufacturer).
Hospital bed electric is a powered, adjustable hospital bed designed to support patient care, safe positioning, and efficient clinical workflows across acute and long-term care settings. Unlike basic manual beds, a Hospital bed electric uses electrical actuators and controls to change bed height and section angles (such as head and knee), and may include safety and monitoring features such as bed-exit alarms, brake indicators, and integrated scales (varies by manufacturer).
Adhesive bandage is a disposable wound-covering medical device designed to protect minor skin injuries and small procedure sites by combining an absorbent pad with an adhesive backing. It is one of the most frequently used pieces of medical equipment in outpatient clinics, emergency departments, wards, operating areas (for minor skin protection), and community health settings—often so routine that its safety, standardization, and supply chain risks are underestimated.
Cotton tipped applicator is a simple, high-volume, single-use clinical device used to apply liquids or semi-solids, collect small specimens, clean limited areas, and support a wide range of bedside and laboratory workflows. It is often treated as a commodity item, yet it can directly influence infection prevention, specimen quality, patient comfort, and staff efficiency.
Cotton balls are small, highly absorbent, single-use cotton products used across healthcare to apply liquids, absorb small amounts of fluid, and support routine clinical workflows. They are often treated as a low-risk, non-powered medical device or consumable medical equipment, but their day-to-day handling can still affect infection prevention, patient safety, and operational efficiency.
Non sterile gauze pad is one of the most common consumable items in modern healthcare. It is simple, low-cost, and used at very high volumes across wards, emergency departments, outpatient clinics, diagnostic areas, and procedure rooms. Despite its simplicity, it directly touches patients, interacts with body fluids, and sits at the intersection of infection prevention, wound care workflows, and supply chain resilience—making it more important than it first appears.
Sterile gauze sponge is a single-use, sterile, absorbent pad used across hospitals, clinics, and procedural settings to manage fluids, protect tissue, and support clean technique. Although it is often considered “basic” medical equipment, it is one of the most frequently handled consumables in perioperative care, emergency care, inpatient wards, and outpatient procedures—making its safety, standardization, and supply reliability operationally critical.
Underpad chux are absorbent pads placed under a patient to help protect beds, stretchers, chairs, and other surfaces from moisture and contamination. They are widely used across hospitals, long-term care facilities, clinics, and transport settings because they support everyday workflows: incontinence care, hygiene, procedures that involve fluids, and environmental protection.
A Fenestrated surgical drape is a sterile barrier sheet used to cover the patient and surrounding area during a procedure while leaving a purposeful opening (the “fenestration”) to access the operative or procedural site. This simple piece of hospital equipment plays an outsized role in maintaining an organized sterile field, supporting infection prevention practices, and standardizing workflow across operating rooms and procedure areas.
Sterile drape is a sterile barrier medical device used to help create and maintain a controlled, aseptic work area around a patient, a procedure site, and/or clinical equipment. In practical terms, it is one of the most common “silent enablers” of safe surgery and invasive procedures: it reduces the chance that microorganisms from skin, surfaces, staff clothing, and nearby equipment migrate into the procedural field.