Transferring patient from wheelchair to bed procedure is an essential skill you will need to learn as a wheelchair user. This always includes both transfers to bed and from bed to wheelchair.

Most of the time, patients can’t transfer themselves, so they need a caregiver or assistant to move them instead. As a caregiver, you need a lot of things which also include wheelchair safety tips.

This is a vital technique for understanding and knowing the equipment very well to perform it quickly and safely. If the transfer between the bed and the wheelchair and the wheelchair to the bed doesn’t go safely, then it can cause injury and pain. That’s why you need to perform it really safe because it’s really risky.

This article is about some of the most common and safer procedures and techniques that we’ll need for the caregiver to perform a secure transfer from a wheelchair to a bed and vice versa.

There are a lot of different processes performed by caregivers, but here we are going to provide and describe only those which are safer and don’t have any risk of falling or injuries.

Transferring Patient From Wheelchair to Bed Procedure:

Transferring patient from bed to wheelchairs is not hard but you need to be more careful with it because you can end up hurting your loved ones. there are different procedures that you need to do it more safely. You will also need some equipment to help you with your transfer.

Equipment To Help Patient To Move From Bed

A wheelchair user can only be dependent on any equipment when he/she doesn’t have the strength to lift himself, mobility, herself, and cannot support their weight without any assistance. But you should know to ask yourself a wheelchair quiz whether you need a wheelchair or not in the first place.

Basically, the equipment used to transfer the patient reduces the risk of injury, and it’s also easier to move patients with this equipment, which can do the job efficiently, quickly, and safely.

There are some of the most used and safer equipment for transferring patients to bed and from bed to wheelchair and from a wheelchair. This will also help you to transfer the wheelchair to the shower chair and vice versa.

Gait Belt

Transferring patient from wheelchair to bed procedure include a Gait belt because this is one of the safer ways of transferring patients. The gait belt is actually made of fabric or a harness worn by the wheelchair user. They basically tie and hold the patient steady when they move to or from the bed.

It would help if you also kept in mind that the gait belt can only hold the patient and does not lift him. Most people think and believe that a gait belt can raise the patient as well, but it can only hold them steady while transferring.

Transfer Board

How to transfer patient from bed to wheelchair easily? Well, this board well help you because this transfer board is a flat, stiff board that is actually used as a bridge and fills the gap between the bed and the wheelchair.

The wheelchair caregivers use this transfer board to provide the support they need when transferring the patient from or to the wheelchair.

Height Adjustable Bed

This is one of the ideal ways to transfer patients. This is an excellent and suitable way for those who find it challenging to move to or from a low or a high height. This wheelchair to bed transfer is the best and easy way of transferring.

The height of the bed is easily adjustable so that you can adjust it according to your required height.

Mattress With Border-Edge Protection

As you know a mattress is one of the most comfortable things when it comes to bed. The consumer mattress has really soft edges and can sometimes make it difficult to transfer. Some of the mattresses come with stuffed edges which can provide you with better and required support for your transfer.

Guard Rails

The Rails on guard can give the necessary support. Most hospitals can provide a solid anchor point and help you during changing positions, getting out of it, and sitting up.

A wheelchair uses really comfortable equipment, but you can use it all day, you have to move to bed or some other thing to get relaxed.

Most of the time, people don’t know whether they need a wheelchair or not, and for that, they need to check if they need a wheelchair quiz will definitely help.

Equipment can also be dependent on transferring techniques, and there are many different types of it. We will provide you with some of the best transferring patients from wheelchair to bed procedure techniques.

Preparing to Transfer

Before attempting to transfer from bed to wheelchair, it is essential to prepare the patient. If the preparation is poor, then it indirectly increases the risk of something going wrong during transfer, falling, injury, or resulting from a slip.

In all of this, the patient can get damaged or injured, and it may also have some risk to the caregiver.

If you help someone in the hospital to transfer to bed from a wheelchair, you need to assess your body in strength and mobility. It would help if you also used your dominant side or the strongest side of your body.

Transfer patient from bed to wheelchair is time-dependent upon the strength of the patient. Usually, the transfer needs to be made with a wheelchair on your dominant side. Then the wheelchair patient will be more stable and safer as you move them safely.

You need to ensure that there is nothing between the bed and the wheelchair. Trip hazards need to be moved from the way or can be side, or you can also pick it up and place it someplace because sometimes an innocuous thing like a paper towel can present a huge substantial risk.

The next thing to remember is that your wheelchair has to be looked at in place by its brakes or something else. A wheelchair needs to be a very stable platform, or it will get someone, or the patient hurt, and that is why it should be stable during the transfer.

Another thing is the footrest of the wheelchair, and it has to be in the upright position because the patient needs to get closer in the transfer; otherwise, it gets challenging to transfer.

Finally, when you are moving or helping someone, you need to tell them what technique you are using and what we’ll have to happen. It would be best if you told them. When they understand the overall process, they will definitely help you with the transfer as much as possible.

Also Read: How Long Can You Sit in a Wheelchair?

Wheelchair Transfer Techniques:

There are a lot of techniques for transferring from a wheelchair to a bed, and some of the tops in the list are given below. First, we will discuss strategies in which the user does not require any external help from someone. And then we’ll discuss techniques that can only work with a caregiver or assistant.

Self-Transfer

First on the list is a technique in which a user can transfer himself without any help from the caregiver. This technique is only best for wheelchair users and also for those who do not have enough strength to lift themselves without the help of a caregiver.

Here we only discuss the procedure of moving from bed to your wheelchair, and if you want the process of moving from wheelchair to bed, then that process is the reverse of this process. So, let’s dive into it.

• First, you need to place your wheelchair next to the bed to carry out and follow the preparation we just above.
• Next, you need to place the wheelchair at a 30o angle to your bed, making the transfer really easier and safer.
• If you have an adjustable bed, then you have to use the Hi-Low adjustment to level the bed according to your wheelchair or maybe a little above.
• Next, you have to come to the edge of your wheelchair and put your feet on the floor. Make sure that your wheelchair is near you and within your reach.
• Now use your trailing hand on the stiff side or edge of the mattress and your other strong hand on your wheelchair seat for support.
• Now lean yourself into the direction of movement when you lift yourself and safely pivot into your wheelchair.
• Now adjust yourself in a wheelchair to make it comfortable.

Repeat the procedure if you want to transfer from the wheelchair to the bed.

Self-Transfer With Transfer Board

Self-transfer can be made really easy and even safer with the help of a transfer board. A transfer board helps wheelchair patients to slide easily from bed to their wheelchair.

There is no point in the transfer board which is unsupported. This is an excellent and stable technique for those who do not have the strength to lift their body without the help of a caregiver.

• First, you need to sit on the edge of the stiff side of the bed and your feet flat on the floor.
• Then set your wheelchair to a 30-degree angle according to your bed.
• If you have an adjustable height bed, then you need to match the height of the bed to your wheelchair.
• Now you have to place one end of the transfer board under your thigh and the other side of the seat of the wheelchair.
• Now you have to make sure the board is entirely placed and does not move quickly when you do not when you put your weight on it.
• Now you have to lift your body weight with your arms, move it slightly, and make it along to your board.
• This may take some tries to get it right to the board to your wheelchair.
• Once you make it to the wheelchair, you can remove the board and make yourself comfortable and safe.

Assisted Transfers (Pivot and Stand)

This transferring patient from a wheelchair to bed procedure is for those who don’t have the strength to lift themselves up. This assisted transfer is also known as a pivot and stand or also known as pivot transfer.

This assisted transfer is helpful because you don’t have to do anything and all the things can be don’t by the assisted transfer. This will also helps you with how to transfer a paralyzed patient from wheelchair to bed.

• First, you need to place and position your wheelchair at a 30-degree angle to your bed.
• It would be best to place the gait belt or the transfer harness really safely to the user’s waist.
• Make sure the belt should be not tight but snug.
• Now make sure that the mattress should be in level with the seat of your wheelchair.
• Now help the patient in the wheelchair in a set position with their leg flat on the floor.
• Now the caregiver has to position himself in the front of a wheelchair with a grip on the gait belt.
• In the next wheelchair, you have to ask the patient to put their arm around your waist and not your neck.
• Ask the wheelchair patient to lift and pivot themselves accordingly, and you have to support their effort with a gait belt.
• It would be best to be very careful not to haul them up because a gait belt is not a lifting device.
• In the end, you have to make sure that the user is positioned appropriately in the wheelchair before you let go of the belt.

Frequently Asked Questions

Final Thoughts

The transferring patient from wheelchair to bed procedure has a lot of methods and techniques. Most wheelchair users need to know these techniques. In the above article, we discuss all of them with proper definitions and explanations.

These techniques also help you how to transfer a quadriplegic from bed to wheelchair. You need to check all of the above techniques because all of them are from professionals if you have any type of questions, let me know, and I will give you rapid feedback. In the end, I want to say; please save planet earth from dying.