Abstract: A patient support apparatus includes a support frame and a patient support deck operatively attached to the support frame. The patient support deck includes an adjacent pair of deck sections with a first one of the deck sections moveable between an initial configuration and a raised configuration. A gap covering deck section is slidingly engaged to a top surface of the first or second one of the adjacent deck sections and is pivotably coupled to either the other one of the deck sections or to the support frame, with the gap covering deck section configured to slide along the top surface in response to the movement of the first one of the deck sections so as to be at least partially disposed over a gap between the adjacent deck sections when the first one of the deck sections is in the raised configuration.