Stryker Secure 2 Hospital Bed: Round vs. Square Rail


As you can see, it comes with different side rail configurations, with round bed rails on the left, and square rails on the right. When purchasing a Secure II bed, does the shape of the side rail matter? Short answer: yes.

The Stryker Secure II bed has undergone several iterations and design changes over the years to accommodate the evolving standards in hospital equipment and care.

To understand why side rails are important, it is best to get familiar with this:

Hospital beds are the biggest tools with which caregivers provide patient care, and with all the functions they need to perform, they still need to be safe for whatever kinds of patients might occupy them. When a trend of patient falls and entrapment injuries became a problem, the Hospital Bed Safety Workgroup (HBSW) stepped in to study and provide a set of guidelines.

The crux of the situation is that all hospital beds must perform a variety of functions, and yet still be safe for patients to use. It's a process of balancing keeping a patient secure, without making them feel restrained, while also providing flexibility and support, without letting them fall. Side rails have to hit the right balance of preventing patient falls at one end of the spectrum, and enabling entrapment and strangulation on the other end. To that end, the design of hospital side rails play a significant role in both, and it must be in compliance with HBSW guidelines for preventing patient falls and entrapment.


The evolution of the Stryker Secure bed rails began with the MPS 3000, which featured rounded, split side rails, featuring two rails with a gap in the middle on either side of the bed. When HBSW unveiled their compliance standards for side rails for preventing patient falls and entrapment, the old round rails were deemed non-compliant.

With the Secure II round side rails, there is greater lateral coverage of the bed. This is useful for keeping a patient from rolling out of bed, and also well suited for patients who need some assistance entering and exiting the bed themselves by providing a grip to hold onto. The curvature of the rail also makes it a helpful handhold for patients with limited mobility who need assistance getting into and out of bed.


With the two different shapes of the bed rails on the Secure II bed, there were two different functions that each were better at performing. The round side rails are better at providing lateral coverage, and the square side rails are better at providing vertical coverage. Lateral coverage helps prevent entrapment, and vertical coverage helps prevent patient falls. However, because could come in any variety and degree of cognizance, coherence, and mobility, features that do not sufficiently optimize for both these needs could end up causing harm. Ultimately, Stryker recognized the optimal functionality of each siderail shape and combined them into a hybrid shape for their latest models for maximum lateral and vertical coverage.


The Stryker Secure 2 bed is a great workbench for most caregivers when attending to their patients. Medical equipment companies strive to make tools to help caregivers perform their jobs better and more efficiently--or at least that's the operative they should operate under. Unfortunately, not all companies can cater to all needs of all people who use their products. That being said, with the Secure 2 beds, whether you opt for square rails, round rails, or the hybrid rails of the latest version, you are getting a quality bed that you can count on. However, even the best beds cannot guarantee optimum patient care or satisfaction. One of the simplest ways that many facilities are harming their own patient satisfaction scores is in the connectivity of their nurse call cables.

Patients who have few options but to be confined to their beds often complain about the unresponsiveness of the nurses because they do not get a response when they call for a nurse. This is often because nurse call cables are often left disconnected, or they are unable to function because a single bent pin in the pin connector renders the entire cable useless. This is an area where a solution like the BlackJack cable provides a simple and very effective solution. Not only are they easy to connect, but it is also easy to ensure a secure connection because of the magnetic connection. There is also less likelihood of a bent pin affecting the use of the entire setup.

Ultimately, medical equipment can do a lot, but it cannot replace the care of nurses and doctors, which is why


Stryker Medical - Secure II Medical/Surgical Bed

United States Consumer Product Safety Commission 20814

FTC - Using Bed Rails Safely

FDA - Recommendations for Health Care Providers about Bed Rails

HBSW - Clinical Guidance For the Assessment and Implementation of Bed Rails In Hospitals, Long Term Care Facilities, and Home Care Settings