FDA poster summarizes mattress cover safety recommendations

Health care facilities can download a new Food and Drug Administration poster summarizing the agency’s 2013 recommendations to prevent infection risks associated with damaged or worn hospital bed mattress covers. Based on Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines for environmental infection control in health care facilities, the recommendations call for health care providers to develop an inspection plan for all mattresses and mattress covers in their facility and replace them as needed. Since 2011, FDA has received more than 700 reports of a hospital bed mattress cover failing to prevent blood or body fluids from leaking into the mattress.