Abstract
Introduction: Early mobilization is defined as the delivery of physical therapy care as soon as a patient is deemed medically stable with physician approval. Early mobilization entails a variety of interventions such as range of motion exercises, bed mobility, transfers, and gait training with the goal of improving patient outcomes. The purpose of this independent research was to explore if there was a relationship between early mobilization, administered by physical therapists, and the length of stay for patients in the ICU. Methods: Data was collected retrospectively through review of medical records of patients admitted to Lee Health: HealthPark Medical Center ICUs (open-heart, surgical, medical, thoracic) who met the inclusion criteria. Patients who received physical therapy in one of the four ICUs and the time-frame for admission to ICU, LOS in ICU, LOS in hospital were recorded. Results: Correlation was significant between LOS in the ICU and 1st PT evaluation for the Open-Heart ICU and MICU. There was not a significant correlation between LOS in the ICU and 1st PT evaluation for the SICU. Overall, there was a significant correlation between LOS in the ICU and time to 1st PT evaluation. The adjusted R2 value for the overall relationship of LOS in the ICU and time to 1st PT evaluation was .509. Conclusion: Time to the first physical therapy evaluation had a significant effect on LOS in the ICU and hospital. Further research is needed in this area to better understand the multitude of variables and their effects on LOS in the ICU and hospital. Future studies should also focus on identifying the correlation between ICU LOS and time to first physical therapy evaluation to collaborate the findings due to the complexity of the patients.
