Impact of a Nurse-Led Early Mobility Protocol in Postoperative General Surgery Older Adults on Medical-Surgical Units

Abstract

The older population is rapidly growing due to increased longevity in the United States. With these changing demographics, the healthcare system must be prepared to provide quality care in respect to postoperative mobility for the older adult population undergoing general surgery. Adult patients have a higher risk for complications related to immobility, with adults ages 65 and older requiring special consideration. The objectives of the nurse-led early mobility protocol were to encourage nursing staff to assist with early mobility of general surgery postoperative older adult patients, shorten the length of stay (LOS), and shift responsibility for early ambulation from rehabilitation staff to nursing staff. The staff compliance benchmark goal of 85% was not met, the average was 80.5% during the 6 months period. The mean LOS was 5.9 days with a range from 4.3 to 8.5 days. The nurse-led early mobility protocol left a positive impact on the project unit due to the increase of collaborative work between nursing staff.