Patient Mobilization Best Practices Improve Patient Safety

Best practices improve health outcomes and ensure patient safety for patients and staff alike.


By Barbara Peterson, RN, BSN, MPH, and Betty Bogue, RN, BSN

Research supports the critical need for mobilizing  hospitalized patients. The adage “If you don’t use it, you will lose it” sums up the weakness and loss of functional status seen with prolonged hospital bed rest. In a hospital , patients often depend on their caregivers for mobilization. The physical demands of mobilization on healthcare caregivers often places risk on both the patient and the caregiver. This article will explore how an effective safe handling practice will improve patient safety, health outcomes, increase healthcare organizations’ profitability, and ensure caregivers’ safety.

In-Patient Early Mobilization Programs 
 
Human mobility serves a greater physiological purpose than just transferring one’s self from one point to the next. Mobility helps us perform activities of daily living, express emotions, and gratify basic needs, as well as sustain our health and enhance our body’s ability to heal and repair. With bed rest or a dramatic reduction of mobility, the body systems most affected are metabolic (fluid and electrolyte imbalance), respiratory (hypostatic pneumonia), cardiovascular (orthostatic hypotension, thrombus), musculoskeletal (atrophy and contractures), urinary elimination (infection and dehydration), integumentary (pressure ulcers) and psychosocial (depression).

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