Parts of a Hospital Bed – Labeled Diagram and Quiz

All 15 parts on the diagram

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The whole bed 8

Headboard It lifts off the frame. That gives staff more room round the head and shoulders.
Footboard On many beds it holds a control panel for staff. It lifts off the frame too.
Side rails They can be raised or lowered. Many beds have four: two at the head end and two at the foot end.
Mattress It bends with the deck under it. Some makers call it the sleep surface.
IV pole Holds bags of fluid above the patient. It stands in a socket at a corner of the bed.
Casters They let the bed roll, and they can be locked.
Brake and steer pedal Pressed one way it locks the wheels. The other way it makes the bed easier to steer when it is moved.
Drainage bag holder A drainage bag hangs here, below the level of the mattress. Some makers call the hooks Foley bag hooks.

The deck 4

Head section Raising it sits the patient up. Some makers call it the Fowler or the back.
Knee section It rises under the knees. Some makers call it the knee gatch or the thigh section.
Foot section It carries the lower legs and the feet. It ends at the footboard.
CPR release handle Pulling it drops a raised head section flat in one move. This saves time in an emergency.

The controls 3

Siderail controls They raise and lower the head section, knee section and the bed. Some rails have a set for the patient and a set for staff.
Pendant Also called the hand control. Its buttons raise and lower the head section, the knee section and the whole bed.
Footboard control panel It is for staff. On some beds it can lock out the buttons in the side rails.

How this list was compiled: Part names checked on 2026-09-30; a name is kept only when two independent sources use it. (1) A bed maker's user manual, Hill-Rom Advanta Bed P1600, https://archive.org/details/manual_Hill-Rom_Advanta_Bed_P1600_User_Manual (headboard, footboard with its control panel, siderails and siderail controls, head, knee and foot sections, CPR release handle, central brake and steer pedals at the casters, IV pole and sockets, drainage bag holders, mattress or sleep surface). (2) A second maker's operations manual, Stryker Electric Med Surg Bed FL28EX, https://archive.org/details/manual_Stryker_Electric_Med_Surg_Bed_FL28EX_Operations_Manual (head board, foot board control panel, siderails and their controls, Fowler or head section, Knee Gatch, thigh and foot sections, CPR release handle, brake/steer pedal, casters, IV pole, Foley bag hooks, pendant control, mattress). (3) A third maker's user manual, Joerns EasyCare, https://archive.org/details/manuals-plus-joerns-easycare-bed-user-service-manual-b1d6a25c (pendant, drainage bag holder, IV sockets, casters, head and foot boards, the knee). (4) Wikipedia, Hospital bed, text only, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hospital_bed (side rails and the buttons in them, wheels that lock, the CPR function, raising the head, the three-segment bed). Makers are named here only; the page names none. Licence: own work

The drawing: Drawn for this site on 2026-09-30 from plain geometry; no maker's bed is copied and nothing is traced. Licence: own work

How it works

A hospital bed is built to change shape: its head, knee and foot sections move, and the bed can be wheeled away. These three drawings name the parts of an electric bed. Names only; nothing here is care advice.

Read the full guide

Three views of one bed

The first view is the whole bed from the side with the head section raised: the board at each end, the side rails, the mattress, the IV pole, the casters and the pedal that brakes them. The second takes the mattress and rails off to show the deck, which bends in three places, and the CPR release handle under the head section. The third enlarges the controls: the buttons in a side rail, the pendant on its cord, and the panel in the footboard.

The head end is where the head lies and the foot end where the feet lie, so the footboard is always at the feet.
Makers differ on names: the mattress is also the sleep surface, and the head section is also the Fowler.

Questions and answers

What are the parts of a hospital bed called?

At the ends, the headboard and the footboard. Along the sides, the side rails. The mattress lies on a deck with a head section, a knee section and a foot section. Underneath are the frame, the casters and the brake and steer pedal.

What is the CPR release on a hospital bed?

A handle, or on some beds a button, that lowers a raised head section to flat in one move. It saves time in an emergency. On some beds the knee section comes down flat as well.

What is the remote on a hospital bed called?

A pendant, or hand control: a handset on a cord. Its buttons raise and lower the head section, the knee section and the whole bed.

What are the rails on the side of a hospital bed called?

Side rails, which some makers write as one word, siderails. They can be raised or lowered, and many hold buttons for moving the bed or calling a nurse.