BED REST IN A SYDNEY TEACHING HOSPITAL

This paper looks at two surveys of bed rest, conducted in a general ho spital. The first survey, conducted early one afternoon, assessed the prevalence of bed rest within the hospital. It was found that most of the patients (67 %) were in bed, and nearly half of those (42 %) were in bed for reasons other than being too sick or unsafe to be up, or be cause bed rest was part of their treatment. A second survey, in which a sample of general hospital patients was repeatedly observed througho ut the day. found that patients with no requirements for bed rest spen t 63 % (95 % confidence limits: 51-75 %) of the active part of the day in bed. It may be that because of the nature of hospital design, many patients are unnecessarily confined to bed because there is simply no where else to go. Inappropriate use of bed rest has implications for p atient health and the utilization of scarce hospital resources.