Improve patient mobility in five easy steps

The benefits of mobility among hospitalized patients are well-known: decreased pressure ulcers, deep vein thrombosis (DVT), and functional decline, to name a few.

“Hospital-acquired pressure ulcers, falls in the hospital, falls that cause injury, DVTs, and pulmonary emboli are also caused by immobility," says Maggie Hansen, RN, BSN, MHSc, senior vice president and chief nurse executive at Memorial Healthcare System in Hollywood, Florida. "They have other factors that contribute to them, but [nursing] is taking ownership for preventing some of those things that should never happen to patients."

Still, finding the time to ambulate patients during a busy shift is something nurses often struggle to do.

"We heard feedback [from nurses] like, 'I really wish I had more time to ambulate my patients,' " says Leslie Pollart, RN, MSN, MBA, director of nursing at Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood, Florida. "While they knew it was important, competing priorities often impeded their ability to ensure timely patient mobility, and sometimes patients need more than one person to assist them in getting out of bed."

To address this issue and ensure patients were getting the ambulation they needed to achieve optimal outcomes, the hospital revamped its mobility program, including creation of a designated mobility team.
 

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