Hospital-Induced Immobility - A Backstage Story of Lack of Chairs, Time, and Assistance

Staying in bed and being inactive during hospitalisation can lead to a range of adverse consequences especially among older adults. The consequences include loss of muscle mass and strength leading to problems with loss of functional independence, risk of re-hospitalisation, and death. Moreover, older adults do not recover as well as younger adults with poor long-term recovery. The lack of in-hospital mobilisation is due to several factors including the hospital culture and organisational factors. Therefore, it is necessary to bring attention to this problem among the hospital staff. The aim of this study is to identify whether the introduction of formal education of clinical staff and a Mobilisation Initiative can increase the number of patients mobilised for breakfast and lunch among patients admitted to geriatric and medical wards. The activities planned in this study is self-reported level of mealtime mobilisation and observations of the patients, focus group interviews and survey on mobilisation awareness among the clinical staff, introduction of formal education and a Mobilisation Initiative. As hypothesized, this will result in an increased awareness of in-hospital mobilisation leading to an increase in the number of patients mobilised at mealtimes. Accordingly, expectations are that this will affect the activity level of the hospitalised patients and reduce adverse consequences leading to an increase in functional independence and reduce the number of readmissions resulting in a socioeconomic benefit.