Introduction: Patients admitted to the pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) are frequently sedated, restrained, and placed on bed rest. These practices have known negative impacts including prolonged hospital stay and diminished functional status after discharge. The authors' objective was to investigate the impact of a PICU early mobility protocol on the frequency of orders for physical, occupational, and speech therapy (PT, OT, ST) and improvement in patient functional status.
Methods: Patients admitted in 2019 prior to the development of the PICU early mobility protocol were compared to those admitted in 2020 who underwent the protocol. Differences in clinical characteristics; PICU length of stay; rates of PT, OT, and ST orders; rates of bedside mobility activities; and functional status scores (FSSs) were assessed in bivariate and multivariate analyses. The protocol included early PT, OT, and ST order placement and frequent in-room mobility activities.
Results: Of the 384 patients included in the study, 216 (56%) were preprotocol patients, and 168 (44%) underwent the protocol. Patients in 2020 were more likely to receive a physical therapy order compared to their 2019 counterparts (79% vs 47%, p < 0.001). Patients in 2020 had a higher daily incidence of mobility activities compared to those in 2019 (4.88 activities vs 4.1 activities, p < 0.001). Changes in functional status scores were similar between the 2 groups.
Conclusion: PICU early mobility was associated with increased physical, occupational, and speech therapy orders and daily mobility activities but was not associated with a reduction in functional morbidity at discharge or 3 months post-discharge.