I just went over to the hospital to get the dimensions needed for the next generation of tilt sensor. I looked at three types of beds in the MICU: the sport, b-sport, and sizewise. The sport and b-sport are the most commonly used and have nearly the same dimensions. The sizewise bed is only used for patients over 500 pounds, which doesn’t happen often. I also looked at the bed used in the SICU: the zoom stryker. (for a total of 4 different bed types)
The following table summarizes the dimensions needed for the different beds and locations of attachment for the tilt sensor.

“end of head” means we would attach the sensor to the head of the bed on the short side. the “out” dimension is how far it would be able to stick out from the bed.
“side of head” means we would attach the sensor to the side of the bed near the head. Again, the “out” dimension is how far it would be able to stick out from the bed.
module: on the sport and b-sport beds, there is an empty slot for a device that the nurses said we could use.
Based on these results, I think the “end of head” option is the best. This would mean the limits for the dimensions will be 1.3″x1.3″x4.8″. It will also mean that the accelerometer will have to be perpendicular to the length of the box.
Edit: the height will need to be slightly larger than 1.3″ to fit the mote (min. of about 1.5″). All this will mean is the box will hang off the beam slightly, which should be fine (although that still needs verifying).
Edit2: I went back to the hospital and found out a few more things. It turns out the magnets don’t stick to the “end of head” side of the beds for the sport (for whatever reason). We could work our way around this if there is another way to attach the sensor, or possibly with a stronger magnet. I also determined that a 2″ high sensor should be fine for the stryker bed. Also, the consensus in the MICU seemed to be that the sizewise bed is used so little that we don’t really need to worry about it.