The hospital has invested in some super expensive and high tech electric beds. Unfortunately they are impossible to use. I have never yet met a doctor who can work these controls.
It looks self explanatory enough, and heaven knows, you wouldn’t think it would be that hard to get a bed to do the stuff it tells you it can do, but you need to press a sequence of buttons before it will do anything for you. You press the lock button once, then every other button that’s lit up twice, in a series, and then the lock button again, and then hold down the button for the movement you want. Or something. The nurses were all sent on courses on how to make the beds work, but even they struggle. If you just try and work it out using basic principles, you have no chance. Luckily, it’s not as if we ever need to move beds around in order to get patients onto or off of operating tables, or need to suddenly lie them flat to do CPR! Oh no actually, we do.
I’m guessing there’s some middle manager out there in purchasing who’s pocketed a large bonus for a bulk buy of hundreds of these, and fair play to them, managers are scum and don’t hang around for long, I have no respect for people who do that sort of thing – but it’s the product designers and engineers who really disappoint me. Come on, guys, you’re professionals – can you not see user friendliness is vital for hospital equipment like this, and is surely more important than the ability to lock a bed so it doesn’t accidentally or maliciously allow a patient to sit up in bed?
Rating 1 out of 10 – because they’re clean at least – would not buy again. Unfortunately, I don’t get a choice.