The Types of Bed Pans

Bedpans are tools used in hospitals and nursing homes alike to capture human waste from someone who is unable to get up and use the bathroom. Efficiency of bedpans is important as soiled sheets and mess cleanup is costly. Bedpans come in a variety of different colors, materials, sizes and types to best accommodate different users.

Saddle Pan

• A saddle bedpan is the classic bedpan. It is a contoured pan with rolled edges that make the seat feel just like a regular toilet seat. The saddle pan was formerly made of metal, but hard plastics are used today and are much warmer on the naked skin. Patients must have full or partial mobility to lean over the pan or for someone to lift them onto it.

Fracture Bedpan

• A fracture bedpan is ideal for patients who cannot move their hip joints or put pressure on them by rolling to the side. A fracture bedpan is named so because patients with hip fractures cannot position themselves atop curved bed pans by twisting and wiggling. It is shaped like a large dust pan with a depression to catch urine and waste. A nurse positions a fracture bedpan by sliding it under the patient's legs until it is placed under the patient's backside, wherein the patient may relieve himself into the pan.

Pontoon Bedpan

• A pontoon bedpan is shaped and designed much like the fracture bedpan except that the capacity is much greater. This bedpan is slid under the patient to minimize any movement on the patient's part.