A bed exit alarm is a sensor, usually a pad under the sheet or a clip on the mattress, that makes a sound when weight leaves the bed. It is a warning. It does not steady her, light her way, or stop a fall. Before you commit money or a bedroom corner to one, decide what job you want it to do, and check whether it can do that job in your house.
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Ask her doctor first
Whether a bed exit alarm fits her situation is a clinical question. Her doctor knows her falls, her balance, and her sleep, and can tell you whether an alarm belongs in her plan at all. Bring the list of questions below to that appointment rather than deciding alone.
Check the sound from where you sleep
Close your bedroom door and listen. Ask whether you would hear the alarm at 3am with the fan running and the house asleep. Then ask whether it is so loud that it wakes the whole house every time she shifts her weight. An alarm you cannot hear is no use, and one so sensitive that it goes off all night teaches everyone to ignore it.
Check the false alarms
A pad under the sheet can misfire when she rolls, sits up to talk, or pulls a blanket. Ask what triggers it, how it is adjusted, and whether the maker gives a way to lower the sensitivity. Write down how many false alerts you would accept in a night before you would turn the alarm off, because a family that turns it off is back to no warning at all.
Check the reset
Each time the alarm goes off, someone has to reset it. Find out who that is. If the reset requires reaching across the bed or leaning over her, the device has added its own trip. If she cannot reset it herself and no one else is in the room, the alarm is only telling you she is already up.
Check the cord and the battery
Many alarms run on a cord to a base unit or on batteries. A cord across the floor is a trip hazard on the very route she walks. A battery needs a name next to it, the person who replaces it and the date they last checked. Put the replacement on the same list you use for the rest of the night route.
Decide who answers
This is the question that decides whether the alarm helps. Does the alert go to a phone in another room, to a neighbor, to a monitoring service, or only to a sound in the house? If the answer is only the sound, then the alarm is a bell, and someone must be awake to hear it. Write the answer down before you buy anything. If no one in the household can answer the alarm at night, the local options on Local help after a fall, St. Louis are a place to start asking about what is available in your area.
Compare on these points, not on the box
When you put two alarms side by side, compare the things above: how it sounds from your room, how often it misfires, how it resets, what it runs on, and where the alert goes. Ask the seller to show you each of those in the house, at night if possible. An alarm that answers all five questions is worth a look. One that answers only the price is not.