Bedside: The Space Beside a Bed, and the Manner of the Doctor Standing There
The bedside is the area next to a bed. In medicine the word describes how a doctor behaves with patients, which is why bedside manner matters as much as diagnosis.
Bedside names a small patch of floor with an outsized role. It is where a lamp, a glass of water and a book live, and where visitors sit when someone is unwell. The word carries a hush: nobody says bedside about a healthy person in the morning.
- The area beside a bed. *A lamp stood at the bedside.*
- Placed next to a bed (adjective). *A bedside table.*
- At a patient's bed (medical). *Bedside teaching for students.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | bedside | He kept vigil at her bedside. |
| Adjective | bedside | A bedside clock. |
| Compound | bedside manner | A warm bedside manner. |
| Compound | bedside table | Keys on the bedside table. |
| Related | bedridden | Bedridden for a month. |
How it is used in a sentence
- The family gathered at his bedside.At the bedside is the fixed phrase for visiting the ill.
- She has an excellent bedside manner.How a clinician talks to patients, not how they treat them.
- Keep a glass of water on the bedside table.Called a nightstand in American English.
What bedside manner covers
- Explaining clearly without jargon
- Listening before answering
- Reading how much a patient wants to know
- Staying calm when the news is bad
- It is a skill taught and assessed in medical schools, not just a personality trait
The compound dates from the seventeenth century, and *bedside manner* from the nineteenth, when hospital medicine made the doctor's conduct a subject in itself.
Bedside table or nightstand?
Bedside table in British English, nightstand in American English. Bedside cabinet also appears in furniture catalogues.
Can bedside manner be used outside medicine?
Yes, playfully, for anyone who must deliver bad news gently — a mechanic or an accountant, for instance.