• Danielle Fraser, LeeAnna Spiva, Wendy Forman, and Caroline Hallen.
• Danielle Fraser is a critical care clinical nurse specialist at WellStar Kennestone Hospital in Marietta, GA, where Wendy Forman is the ICU early mobility team leader. LeeAnna Spiva is the interim executive director of the Center for Nursing Excellence, WellStar Health System, also in Marietta. Caroline Hallen is a staff nurse at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta. Contact author: Danielle Fraser, Danielle.Fraser@wellstar.org. The authors have disclosed no potential conflicts of interest, financial or otherwise.
• Am J Nurs. 2015 Dec 1;115(12):49-58.

ObjectiveResearch is needed to determine the feasibility of implementing a dedicated ICU mobility team in community hospital settings. The purpose of this study was to assess, in one such hospital, four nurse-sensitive quality-of-care outcomes (falls, ventilator-associated events, pressure ulcers, and catheter-associated urinary tract infections [CAUTIs]), as well as hospital costs, sedation and delirium measures, and functional outcomes by comparing ICU patients who received physical therapy from a dedicated mobility team with ICU patients who received routine care.MethodsWe conducted a retrospective longitudinal study at a community acute care hospital; patients were randomly assigned to intervention or routine care groups. The mobility team screened patients Monday through Friday using a mobility algorithm to determine eligibility for participation in each early mobility session. Based on their strength, balance, hemodynamic stability, and ability to participate in early mobility activities, patients advanced through four progressively difficult phases of mobility. Data were collected and analyzed after patients were discharged from the hospital.ResultsThe 66 patients who received the mobility intervention had significantly fewer falls, ventilator-associated events, pressure ulcers, and CAUTIs than the 66 patients in the routine care group. The mobility group also had lower hospital costs, fewer delirium days, lower sedation levels, and improved functional independence compared with the routine care group. Patients in the mobility group got out of bed on 2.5 more days than patients in the routine care group. There were also no adverse events in the mobility group.ConclusionsIt is feasible for a community hospital to create and implement a dedicated ICU mobility team. Early mobilization of ICU patients contributed to fewer delirium days and improved patient outcomes, sedation levels, and functional status.

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