Background: Inactivity and immobility in critical care can result in medical complications, many of which prolong hospital stays and increase the time it takes for a patient to return to previous functional status. Neuromuscular weakness has been associated with prolonged ventilation time, increased hospital and intensive care unit (ICU) stays, and poor quality of life for survivors. The American Association of Critical Care Nurses, AACN, has recognized the association between immobility and poor patient outcomes. Promoting early mobilization of ventilated patients can decrease complications like weakness and poor rehabilitation potential. The purpose of this project was to improve identification of patients who may benefit from early mobilization thus shortening the time interval from intubation to initiation of mobility. EBP Framework: The Steven’s Star Model of Knowledge Transformation was utilized in this project. Application of the model ensured that evidence-based methods were adopted in order for staff to adopt the AACN progressive early mobilization protocol within the medical intensive care. Adoption of Dorothy Orem’s Self-care Deficit model was used to promote the delivery of care to patients allowing staff to restore patients’ self-care practices in regards to mobility. Methods: The project began with retrospective data collection. Comparison of this data was used to analyze outcomes. Steven’s model was used to guide the methodology of integration. Findings/Results: The outcomes analyzed were: time interval for initiation of mobilization, successful implementation of protocol, and incidences of mobilization activities performed with intubated patients. Initiating the protocol resulted with a significantly shorter time period for mobilization to become initiated. This project showed a successful protocol implementation rate of 90.9%. There was not a statistically significant increase in the amount of mobilization activities performed with intubated patients. Conclusion/Recommendations: Project findings indicated a correlation between initiating a protocol and a shorten time interval for mobilization to occur; this mobilization protocol created earlier mobilization for intubated patients. The protocol produced an increase in the incidences of mobilization activities, however, there was no statistical significant increase when compared to baseline data. The sustainability of this project requires that champions continue to work within the interdisciplinary team to promote mobilization for this patient population. Further studies need to be done with a larger sample size to obtain more accurate results.
