Optimizing Rehabilitation Referrals to Improve Early Mobility and Discharge.

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Management
• Nursing Practice
• Patient Care Improvement

Background:

• A medical-surgical unit achieved only 53% mobility screening completion, falling short of the 80% national benchmark.
• Deficiencies stemmed from incomplete activity orders and communication gaps between providers, nurses, and therapists.

Purpose of the Study:

• To enhance patient mobility management through systematic integration into daily multidisciplinary rounds.
• To achieve 100% comprehensive mobility screenings for all patients.

Main Methods:

• A 15-week project involved staff training on a care team rounds flow sheet.
• Daily rounds incorporated patient mobility reviews, with providers addressing missing activity orders.
• Data were collected weekly and analyzed using Research Electronic Data Capture (REDCap).

Main Results:

• Initially, 5.6% of patients lacked activity orders and 7% lacked mobility screenings.
• The intervention led to 100% of patients with missing orders receiving them and subsequent screenings.
• Run-chart analysis indicated a decreasing trend in missing orders over time.

Conclusions:

• The initiative successfully achieved 100% compliance for activity orders and mobility assessments.
• Utilizing validated tools in interdisciplinary discussions improves patient outcomes and hospital efficiency.
• This systematic approach enhances nursing roles in mobility assessment, care coordination, and patient safety.