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VIRUS
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Die Zeitschrift "Virus - Beiträge zur Sozialgeschichte der Medizin" ist das Publikationsorgan des Vereins für Sozialgeschichte der Medizin und erscheint einmal jährlich.
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Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften Austrian Academy of Sciences Press
A-1011 Wien, Dr. Ignaz Seipel-Platz 2
Tel. +43-1-515 81/DW 3420, Fax +43-1-515 81/DW 3400 https://verlag.oeaw.ac.at, e-mail: verlag@oeaw.ac.at |
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DATUM, UNTERSCHRIFT / DATE, SIGNATURE
BANK AUSTRIA CREDITANSTALT, WIEN (IBAN AT04 1100 0006 2280 0100, BIC BKAUATWW), DEUTSCHE BANK MÜNCHEN (IBAN DE16 7007 0024 0238 8270 00, BIC DEUTDEDBMUC)
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VIRUS Band 16, pp. 231-250, 2020/07/22
Schwerpunkt: Orte des Alters und der Pflege – Hospitäler, Heime und Krankenhäuser
The use of bedrails in hospitals and nursing homes has been a subject of controversy fordecades. However, analysis of the literature about bedrails reveals that the issue of use and misuse of mechanical restraints via bedrails is very complex and cannot be explained by individual factors. It involves several actors in addition to patients: nurses, hospital administration, relatives, doctors, insurance companies, manufacturers, lawyers, and so on. After years of criticism and many injured patients, bedrails are still in common use in hospitals and nursing homes. Consequently, I argue that bedrails are more than just poorly designed, mundaneobjects; they are integral components of the “apparatus of security” (Foucault): Besides preventing people from falling out of bed – which they may or may not do – they secure specific circulations, such as movements of people and things, in hospital and nursing home settings.
Keywords: Hospital beds, falls out of bed, bedrails, care, apparatus of security, restraints, patient safety, material culture, Western societies, 20th century