On the Move: Safe Mobilization Techniques
An innovative physical therapy device and standardized language at Cape Cod Hospital are among the latest initiatives helping to mobilize patients and improve staff safety.
Ready. Steady. Stand.
On Mugar 3 at Cape Cod Hospital, innovative ideas are in motion.
During one recent morning, Physical Therapist Deana Mazzola is showing Samantha Perkins, RN, how to operate a new mobility device called the Sara Stedy, a sit-to-stand aid that boosts confidence among patients moving from Point A to Point B. The user-friendly device also promotes a level of independence and helps patients work on standing, balancing and bearing weight on legs and arms.
“It provides the double benefit of helping to mobilize patients, but also keeps our staff safe while they are doing it,” says John Corsino, Physical Therapist Process Improvement Coordinator at Cape Cod Healthcare. “Sometimes a patient needs a lot of physical help, and we want staff to feel like they're helping the patient in the most productive way.”
The Sara Stedy device, which can support up to 400 pounds and helps safely transition a patient from a bed, chair or commode, is just one piece of the mobility education puzzle. Since the end of January, Corsino and PT staff have also introduced additional training techniques to nurses on each floor in Mugar and also on North 3, South 2 and the ICU, including the following:
- A system modeled after Johns-Hopkins Hospital, which involves a measure of how much assistance a patient requires for mobility (AM-PAC), a 1- to 8-point mobility scale used to communicate how much a patient should be mobilized each day and how much mobility is achieved. Mobility goals among staff are discussed daily during interdisciplinary rounds.
- Standardized language for communicating how staff might best help patients, such as detailed information about the level of assist, what type of device the patient needs, how far the patient can go and a clear plan for mobility goals.
- Safe mobilization techniques and ergonomics review, including the Sara Stedy, which has been well received by both patients and staff. One floor (North 3) has already ordered its own since training started earlier this year. The goal is for every floor on Mugar to eventually have the Sara Stedy device available for staff and patients.
Mazzola, a PT on Mugar 3, says the latest mobility interventions are a game changer and help optimize patient care by boosting their daily activity. “With the Sara Stedy device, a patient is able to use their leg strength and stand multiple times a day as opposed to being dependent on a mechanical ceiling lift with nurses. It’s helping our job in the sense that patients are able to meet their goals quicker if they are gaining strength throughout the day.”
Corsino says Mugar 3’s staff and the floor’s manager, Lisa Burke, deserve special recognition because they have championed the progressive mobility initiatives. “We began interdisciplinary rounding on this floor,” says Corsino. “We piloted our mobility aide program here, and the culture of teamwork and collaboration really creates opportunities to start each phase of this program successfully.”
The proof is in the data, says Corsino. He emphasizes that as patient mobility improves, more patients are going home as opposed to needing rehab, and fewer patients are readmitted.
“Mobility is an established hospital care standard, and it’s particularly important to the population that we serve on the Cape that we don’t allow folks to lose strength or endurance while they're hospitalized. I think we’re demonstrating that a hospital of any size can lead the way at providing great care of this type—not just the huge teaching institutions.”
Clinical teams at Cape Cod Hospital begin their day with interdisciplinary rounding to discuss patient care, including mobility goals. From left to right: John Corsino, ICU PT; Jane Johnson, North 3 Nurse Manager; Julia Beliot, RN; Mel Cassista, North 3 Clinical Leader; Patricia Starkweather, Case Manager; Melissa Lund, PT; and Alyssa Wahlstrom, Mobility Aide. (Click on arrow above right to view more photos).
Physical Therapist Deana Mazzola shows Samantha Perkins, RN, how to operate a new mobility device called the Sara Stedy.
Physical Therapists Deana Mazzola and Melissa Lund agree the Sara Stedy device is a “game-changer.”
