Current Trends in Practice for Early Mobility with the Burn Population

Area of Science:

• Burn Care and Rehabilitation
• Clinical Practice Guidelines
• Patient Mobility

Background:

• Early mobilization is a clinical trend in burn care, but mobility definitions and practices remain unclear.
• Burn injuries vary in severity, location, and surgical treatment, impacting patient mobilization protocols.
• Current practices for early mobilization of burn patients, especially after skin grafting, require further definition.

Purpose of the Study:

• To survey burn clinicians regarding current patient mobility practices.
• To investigate the influence of skin graft surgery on the timing and type of mobilization.
• To establish a baseline understanding of mobility protocols in burn care.

Main Methods:

• A 32-question electronic survey was distributed to burn clinicians.
• Survey questions focused on postoperative range of motion (ROM) and out-of-bed (OOB) mobility.
• Data collected included timing of ROM and OOB mobility based on graft type and body location.

Main Results:

• Patients resumed ROM activities on average postoperative day (POD) 3.87 and OOB mobility on POD 2.54.
• Variability in OOB mobility was significantly greater than in ROM.
• Sheet skin grafts allowed for the earliest ROM resumption, while grafts above the waist facilitated the earliest OOB mobility.

Conclusions:

• Current burn care practices show variability in patient mobilization timing post-skin graft surgery.
• Graft type and location significantly influence the timing of ROM and OOB mobility.
• Findings provide a foundation for developing standardized, evidence-based mobility protocols for burn survivors.