Abstract
Early mobilization of patients within the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) setting has shown positive patient outcomes including a reduction in ventilator days, decreased muscle atrophy, decreased ICU days, and decreased mortality. The project aimed to analyze the effects of a nurse-driven, multidisciplinary mobility tool on patient outcomes within the ICU setting. The primary investigator hosted 5 days of multidisciplinary educational sessions, repeated after 2 weeks. The tool was utilized with every patient, and reminders were posted in the unit. The study comprised 203 patients. Data from 8 weeks prior to 8 weeks post-initiation were analyzed using comparative and analytical statistics.|As a result of the project, the mean number of ambulation events in a 24-hour period went from 5.97 to 9.67 (t -6.61, p<.00001). Average ambulation events of ventilated patients increased from 5.86 to 10.94 (t -3.30, p<.01). The average number of ambulation events for non-ventilated patients went from 5.99 to 10.86 (t -3.71, p<.01). Average overall hospital stays increased from 6 days to 7.1 days, however, average ICU days decreased from 4.2 to 3.5. The number of pressure ulcers was reduced by 33.3%. The ratio of pressure ulcers to patients decreased from 14.6% to 6.6%. The mean number of ventilator days decreased from 5.92 days to 5 days. The mortality rate in the ICU decreased from 14.6% to 12.4%. Early mobilization remains a feasible and fiscally responsible method of increasing positive patient outcomes and provides a way to mitigate the negative consequences that are often seen within the ICU.