What Is a Bedpan?

A bedpan is a shallow, rigid container placed under a patient who cannot get out of bed to use a toilet, so they can urinate or have a bowel movement while lying or reclining in bed. It is one of the most basic pieces of equipment in patient care — not a diagnostic device or a piece of clinical instrumentation, but a toileting aid — and it exists because immobility does not suspend the need to use the bathroom. Bedridden, post-surgical, critically ill, and severely injured patients still need a safe, sanitary way to do that without leaving the bed, and a bedpan is how nursing staff and caregivers provide it.

Where to source this: LAC (lac.us), CASRAI’s sister medical-supply business under the same operator, stocks bedpans and related toileting equipment directly under Urinals & Bed Pans. Nothing here is a paid placement or a third-party affiliate link; it’s a real, first-party sourcing option, not a requirement to buy from any specific vendor.

What a Bedpan Is and the Problem It Solves

A bedpan is placed under a patient’s buttocks while they remain in or on the bed, collects urine and/or stool, and is then removed, emptied, cleaned (or discarded, for single-use versions), and stored for the next use. It solves a specific, recurring problem in patient care: a patient who cannot safely walk or be transferred to a toilet — because of surgery, injury, illness, weakness, or a mobility restriction ordered by a clinician — still needs a way to void that doesn’t require getting up. Without one, the realistic alternatives are worse: an unassisted attempt to reach the bathroom that risks a fall, or simply not toileting properly, which risks skin breakdown, infection, and loss of dignity. The bedpan is the low-tech answer that has been standard in hospital and long-term care for well over a century, and it remains standard because the underlying problem — a patient in bed who needs to use the bathroom — hasn’t gone away.

Who Uses a Bedpan

Bedpan use spans several patient populations, and the common thread across all of them is a mobility restriction rather than any single diagnosis:

• Post-surgical patients under a physician-ordered activity restriction (bed rest, weight-bearing limits, or wound/incision precautions) who are not yet cleared to walk to a bathroom.
• Patients with spinal, pelvic, or hip conditions — including spinal cord injury, spinal surgery, or a hip fracture — where movement itself can be painful, destabilizing, or clinically contraindicated.
• Critically ill or hemodynamically unstable patients, such as those in an intensive care setting, for whom getting out of bed carries real risk.
• Long-term care and hospice patients with chronic immobility, where a bedpan (or a related toileting aid, discussed below) is part of routine daily care rather than a temporary measure.
• Patients on strict intake-and-output monitoring, where a bedpan also lets nursing staff measure urine or stool output accurately — a clinical documentation need, not just a comfort one.

In every case, the decision to use a bedpan rather than assist a patient to a toilet or bedside commode is a clinical mobility judgment made by nursing staff following the care plan and any physician-ordered activity restrictions — not a default choice made for convenience.

Main Types: Standard vs. Fracture (Slipper) Pan

At a general level, bedpans come in two basic shapes, and the difference between them is entirely about how much a patient needs to move to use one:

• Standard bedpan. The traditional oval or kidney-shaped pan with a deeper, more contoured bowl. Using one properly usually requires the patient to be able to raise their hips off the mattress (a bridge or lift maneuver) or to be rolled onto it and then rolled back, so staff can position it correctly underneath them. It holds more volume and is the everyday choice for patients who retain enough hip, back, and core mobility to be positioned this way with assistance.
• Fracture pan (also called a slipper pan). A lower-profile, wedge-shaped pan with one end thinner and flatter than the other. The thin end slides under the patient with much less lifting or hip elevation than a standard pan requires, which is exactly why it exists: for patients with a hip fracture, recent hip or spinal surgery, severe arthritis, spinal precautions, or any condition where raising the hips is painful, unsafe, or against a movement restriction. The tradeoff is a shallower bowl with less capacity, which is a reasonable trade for patients who genuinely cannot tolerate the standard pan’s positioning demands.

Beyond shape, bedpans also vary by material — reusable stainless steel (cleaned and disinfected or autoclaved between uses) versus single-use disposable pans made from molded pulp or plastic, which some facilities prefer specifically to reduce cross-contamination risk between patients. Which material and shape is right for a given unit is a facility-level infection-control and patient-population decision, not a one-size-fits-all answer.

How a Bedpan Differs From Related Toileting Aids

A bedpan is easy to confuse with a few adjacent pieces of equipment that solve a similar problem in different ways:

• Urinal. A handheld, typically bottle-shaped container used for urine only (not stool), most often by male patients, and usable without the positioning a bedpan requires. A bedpan handles both urine and bowel movements; a urinal is urine-specific.
• Bedside commode. A portable chair with a toilet-style seat and a removable receptacle underneath. It requires the patient to be able to sit up and be transferred (with or without assistance) out of the bed and onto the chair — a meaningfully higher mobility bar than a bedpan, which is used without the patient leaving the bed at all.
• Incontinence briefs and underpads. Absorbent products used when a patient cannot reliably signal or wait for toileting assistance, or as a backup layer alongside scheduled bedpan use. CASRAI’s adult incontinence product selection guide covers sizing, absorbency, and product-type selection for this category in more depth.

The practical distinction that matters for care planning is mobility level: a bedpan is for a patient who cannot safely leave the bed at all; a commode is for a patient who can sit up and transfer but shouldn’t or can’t walk to a bathroom; a urinal is a narrower tool for urine-only needs when even a bedpan’s positioning is more than necessary.

Related Care Considerations

Bedpan use connects to a few broader patient-care concerns worth naming, without turning this page into a clinical procedure guide:

• Skin integrity. Because bedpan use overlaps heavily with the same immobile, bedbound population at risk for pressure injuries, proper positioning, prompt removal after use, and thorough skin drying afterward all matter for preventing skin breakdown — the same underlying risk that drives routine skin checks for bedridden and low-mobility residents.
• Dignity and privacy. Toileting is one of the more sensitive care tasks a patient experiences, and unhurried, private, respectfully handled bedpan assistance is a recognized part of basic nursing care quality, not an afterthought to the mechanics of the equipment itself.
• Immobility and circulation. Patients who need a bedpan are, by definition, part of the same bedbound population for whom clinicians often also order measures like graduated compression to reduce clotting risk during extended immobility — see CASRAI’s guide to compression socks for how that separate intervention fits into care for the same patient population.

Practical Relevance for Procurement and Facility Administration

For research-administration, procurement, and facility-operations readers, bedpans are a small line item individually but a high-volume, recurring one across any inpatient, long-term care, or home-care operation:

• Reusable vs. disposable is a real infection-control and cost tradeoff — reusable stainless steel pans cost more up front and require reliable sterilization/disinfection capacity between patients, while disposables reduce cross-contamination risk but add ongoing per-unit and waste-disposal cost. Facility infection-control policy, not price alone, should drive this choice.
• Stocking both standard and fracture-pan types matters for any unit that serves orthopedic, spinal, or post-surgical patients specifically, since a facility that stocks only standard pans can leave staff without the right equipment for a patient who genuinely cannot tolerate standard positioning.
• Bariatric sizing is a real, distinct procurement category — standard bedpans have a weight and size limit, and facilities serving bariatric patients need bedpans rated and sized accordingly as a separate stock item, not a substitute-in-a-pinch use of the standard pan.
• This sits alongside other basic-supply planning covered in CASRAI’s nursing home supply checklist, assisted living facility supply checklist, and group home medical supply checklist — each of which reflects a different staffing and licensure model, and therefore a different mix of toileting and continence equipment appropriate to stock.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a bedpan used for?

A bedpan is used to let a patient who cannot get out of bed urinate or have a bowel movement while remaining in bed. It is placed under the patient, used, then removed, emptied, and cleaned or discarded.

What is the difference between a regular bedpan and a fracture pan?

A standard bedpan has a deeper bowl and typically requires the patient to raise their hips or be rolled into position. A fracture pan (slipper pan) is lower-profile and wedge-shaped, sliding under the patient with much less hip elevation, which makes it the appropriate choice for patients with a hip fracture, recent hip or spinal surgery, or other conditions where lifting the hips is painful or unsafe.

Is a bedpan the same as a urinal?

No. A urinal is a handheld container for urine only, most commonly used by male patients. A bedpan is positioned under the patient and can be used for both urine and bowel movements.

Who typically needs a bedpan?

Patients under a bed-rest or mobility restriction — post-surgical patients, those with spinal or hip conditions, critically ill patients, and long-term care or hospice patients with chronic immobility — typically use a bedpan rather than walking or transferring to a toilet.

Are bedpans reusable or disposable?

Both exist. Reusable bedpans are typically stainless steel and are cleaned and disinfected (or autoclaved) between uses. Disposable bedpans, made from molded pulp or plastic, are single-use and are often chosen specifically to reduce cross-contamination risk between patients. Which a facility uses is an infection-control policy decision.