Improving Mobility Practices of Critically Ill Children

Abstract

Introduction: This quality improvement project aimed to improve mobility practices in a pediatric intensive care unit.

Method: Three interventions were implemented: a staff-developed mobility progression guideline (including patient mobility phase identification using animal images), physical therapy (PT), and occupational therapy (OT) referrals for all patients with expected hospitalizations of more than 3 days, and the use of activity goal posters. The frequency of mobility activities performed, the number of PT and OT referrals and nurses' confidence in mobilizing patients were compared before and after project implementation.

Results: Improvements occurred in the median number of daily mobility activities per patient encounter (1.5-4.0), number of PT and OT referrals (43% and 61% increase, respectively), and nurses' confidence in mobilizing patients (69% of clinical nurses agreed their confidence in mobilizing patients improved after protocol implementation).

Discussion: Implementation of an interprofessional mobility quality improvement project improved mobility practices in the pediatric intensive care unit.

Keywords: Intensive care; mobility; pediatric; physical therapy; quality improvement.