Bariatric Hospital Bed Mattress / Bariatric Air Mattress

What is a Bariatric Hospital Bed Mattresses?

Bariatric mattresses are designed to hold higher weight capacities for heavier patients. Either weight or height can classify someone as bariatric, especially considering how taller individuals typically weigh more. At the same time, a person who has bariatric needs and is bedridden often lives at high risk for developing pressure ulcers and bedsores. Therefore, a bariatric mattress must be used to accommodate their needs. 

Types of Bariatric Hospital Bed Mattresses

Since bariatric bed mattresses are designed to hold higher weights, they are also developed to provide different levels of pressure relief. Bariatric patients can benefit greatly from using a bariatric hospital mattress instead of other types of hospital mattresses since they frequently experience more joint and back pain. Further, these individuals are at a pronounced risk for other pressure-related complications that can present from time to time. Those with a higher BMI (body mass index) can also benefit from a bariatric mattress, including models classified as “full-sized” or “queen-sized” mattresses. These larger mattresses vary from 42 inches in width up to 54 inches in width. The available types of bariatric hospital mattresses include: 

Foam Mattresses

Foam mattresses provide the patient with a significant amount of comfort that innerspring mattresses just don’t achieve by themselves. Some users of home hospital beds prefer these foam mattresses on top of their current innerspring mattress to provide more comfort and cushioning. Foam bariatric bed mattresses are made from medical-grade, hypoallergenic foam so they can do their intended work without irritating a user’s skin while providing mild to moderate pressure relief. Many users who retain some mobility can greatly benefit from these mattresses, including seniors who are not completely bedridden. This is true simply because they alleviate pressure on the body and joints to make the bed-bound part of a user’s day less painful. 

Alternating Pressure Mattresses

Bariatric alternating pressure mattresses are another type of bariatric air bed. These mattresses are made to alternate pressure in numerous individual cells at various intervals, offering alternating pressure treatment for patients who frequently live at high risk of (or already have) bedsores. They can help to reduce bedsores and even prevent them since they keep pressure off of a single part of the body during treatment. They serve to redistribute a bariatric patient’s weight in a proactive manner throughout their hundreds of cells. As mentioned earlier, there are low air loss mattresses that also provide this feature, but alternating pressure bariatric mattresses can be found with just this feature alone as well. They are more expensive than a foam mattress but are on the lower side concerning cost when comparing to air hospital mattresses. 

Low Air Loss Mattresses

A bariatric low air loss mattress works with an airflow system in order to promote pressure relief. Hundreds of cells are inflated appropriately to provide cushioning for the body, and laser precision holes throughout the mattress push air through them in small amounts to create an air cushion between the user and the mattress. This air cushion helps to minimize pressure and makes the patient feel like they’re lying on a “cloud” of air, keeping the skin cool, minimizing moisture, and allowing the patient advanced relief from bedsores and pressure ulcers. Some of these bariatric airflow mattresses can also feature alternating pressure capabilities, and they are more expensive than a regular foam or innerspring mattress. Mattresses that have both low air loss and alternating pressure capabilities (but not lateral rotation) can be more expensive than those that do not have alternating pressure systems built into them. They are more widely purchased and used for in-home care applications as opposed to hospital facility use. 

Lateral Rotation

Lateral rotation mattresses are a combination of low air loss and alternating pressure mattresses. They are designed to help rotate a patient who is completely incapacitated on regular intervals so the caregiver doesn’t have to do so much work, inviting strain on their own bodies as well as those of their patients. A lateral rotation bariatric mattress can hold up to 1,000 pounds and is one of the most state-of-the-art beds. Because of these realities, they often prove much more expensive than the other two types of bariatric air mattresses. 

Choosing the Proper Bariatric Mattress

There are many different varieties of hospital mattresses and brands, and it’s important that you can get the best. All of the brands we carry here at AvaCare Medical, such as Drive Medical, Medline, Invacare, Carrol CS, and more, represent the top brands in the nation with years of service creating medical devices of many types. It is important to choose the right bed for a patient when they are in need of such a hospital bed, and more often than not, it’s a good general practice to choose a bariatric mattress instead of others if a user plans on adding numerous additions (such as bed rails and accessories) to their home health bed. Hospitals can also occasionally benefit from the use of these bariatric mattresses in applications such as post-surgical intensive care. 

In order to find the right bariatric hospital mattress, it’s important that the patient’s weight is less than the weight capacity of the mattress. This is both for safety reasons as well as for the manufacturer’s warranty purposes. Once the weight capacity is determined, one should decide what kind of mattress they’re actually going to need. This decision should include whether it needs to be a foam mattress, an innerspring mattress, or an air bed. This can be determined by the length of time the bariatric patient or user is going to need to be in bed throughout the day, as well as how susceptible to bedsores they are and how mobile they may be (if at all). Once the type is selected, then one may begin to shop around for different brands and features that suit their desires.

Here at AvaCare Medical, our top priority is not only the customers who purchase our bariatric hospital bed mattresses, but also the patients who will be using them! If you are searching for a bariatric air mattress or standard mattress for a loved one, we’re here to help. All you have to do is give us a call at 1-877-813-7799 and speak with one of our professionally trained customer caregivers to assist you during our business hours. Additionally, you can send us an email anytime and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible! All of our mattresses come with free shipping, and we’ll promise to ship out your order within 24 hours of purchase!