The Dangers of Hospital Rounds

Sometimes just making the rounds to check patients had its surprises. Many of the beds that the hospital used had side rails that ran the entire length of both sides of the bed frame. The rails could be raised or lowered depending on the patient’s physical and mental condition. If the patient was confused the side rails were kept up to prevent them from falling out of bed. The rails could be completely lowered for alert and ambulatory patients. The rail restraints were completely legal then and considered proper treatment at the time.

There was one hazard from having those long side rails completely up and the hazard was for the staff members. It happened when staff members would make rounds to check the patients for incontinence and to change the bedding when necessary. There were times when the patient would play in their bowel movement, then would finger paint the side rails and leave a coating of feces on the rail. Often a staff member would lean over the side rail to check a patient, the person would end up with a streak of poop emblazoned across the front of their uniforms, or as we “lovingly” named the mark, “racing stripes.” That was our reward for investigating the odor.

An unwary and unsuspecting nurse would accidentally brush against the feces coated side rail. What was the result of “earning” the brown stripe across the front of their uniform? There were many nights some staff member had to finish their shift in scrub greens borrowed from the operating room with their uniform soaking in the sink of the utility room.

Another danger that the beds posed was mostly contained to the night shift personnel. Some of the beds were mechanical. They had a cranking mechanism to raise and lower the head and foot of the bed. This was a time when hospitals occupancy was stretched to the limit and these older beds were pressed into service. If someone from the previous shift forgot to tuck the crank handle away, it was not seen in the dark and would attack an unsuspecting person in the shin. The sudden surprising pain was intense. The hardest part of the agony was trying not to cry out and awaken the room full of patients who’d just fallen asleep. Today, a similar experience would be to rap one’s shin on the trailer hitch of a pickup truck.