Early Mobility in Intensive Care Burn Patients
Disciplines
Critical Care Nursing
Abstract (300 words maximum)
Patients admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) often are sedated and immobilized for an extensive amount of time. With this, the risks of pressure ulcers, pneumonia, deep vein thrombosis, and other infections increase, potentially causing long-term detrimental effects. Research has shown that early mobility in patients admitted to the ICU lessen hospital stays, decrease the long-term effects of sedation/immobility, and increase functionality return before hospitalization. Although research shows positive impacts, there is a gap in the literature regarding patients in the burn ICU. This led to the question, in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), what is the effect of early mobilization on severely burned patients? Using the Kennesaw State University Library Database, I was able to skim numerous peer-reviewed studies narrowing down articles to use by relevance. The articles included discuss challenges faced by healthcare workers for implementation, successful implementation on hospital units, and the loss of functionality in severely burned patients. Properly educating healthcare staff and prioritizing an individualized plan is vital for successfully implementing early mobility on a unit. Interdisciplinary communication and assessment by all healthcare workers is vital to determine what plan is best for each patient. Patients who have a Total Burn Surface Area (TBSA) of 20% or more, are admitted to the ICU, and can complete the exercises will be chosen to be evaluated. An education course will be provided for healthcare staff in the selected Burn ICU, emphasizing communication between all healthcare staff and individualizing care. Evaluation of success with staff will be a survey on competence and satisfaction of implementation with the healthcare staff. Evaluation of success with patients will consist of comparing statistics such as length of stay, return of functionality, and incidents of hospital-acquired diseases (UTIs, DVTs, pressure ulcers) with other burn ICUs that have not implemented early mobilization.
Academic department under which the project should be listed
Wellstar School of Nursing
Primary Investigator (PI) Name
Christie Emerson
Additional Faculty
Courtney Thompson, Nursing, cthom518@kennesaw.edu
Early Mobility in Intensive Care Burn Patients
Patients admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) often are sedated and immobilized for an extensive amount of time. With this, the risks of pressure ulcers, pneumonia, deep vein thrombosis, and other infections increase, potentially causing long-term detrimental effects. Research has shown that early mobility in patients admitted to the ICU lessen hospital stays, decrease the long-term effects of sedation/immobility, and increase functionality return before hospitalization. Although research shows positive impacts, there is a gap in the literature regarding patients in the burn ICU. This led to the question, in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), what is the effect of early mobilization on severely burned patients? Using the Kennesaw State University Library Database, I was able to skim numerous peer-reviewed studies narrowing down articles to use by relevance. The articles included discuss challenges faced by healthcare workers for implementation, successful implementation on hospital units, and the loss of functionality in severely burned patients. Properly educating healthcare staff and prioritizing an individualized plan is vital for successfully implementing early mobility on a unit. Interdisciplinary communication and assessment by all healthcare workers is vital to determine what plan is best for each patient. Patients who have a Total Burn Surface Area (TBSA) of 20% or more, are admitted to the ICU, and can complete the exercises will be chosen to be evaluated. An education course will be provided for healthcare staff in the selected Burn ICU, emphasizing communication between all healthcare staff and individualizing care. Evaluation of success with staff will be a survey on competence and satisfaction of implementation with the healthcare staff. Evaluation of success with patients will consist of comparing statistics such as length of stay, return of functionality, and incidents of hospital-acquired diseases (UTIs, DVTs, pressure ulcers) with other burn ICUs that have not implemented early mobilization.