Author(s)

Yuta Mitobe¹, Yu Koyama², Hagiko Aoki², Utako Shimizu², Yoshiyuki Muramatsu², Chikayo Koyama², Sayuri Sakai², Yuka Iwasa², Jun Kikunaga², Megumi Taguchi², Masakazu Nitta³, Hiroshi Endoh³, Masaki Kitajima¹, Shinichiro Morishita⁴

¹Niigata University of Health and Welfare, Niigata, Japan.
²Department of Nursing, Niigata University Graduate School of Health Sciences, Niigata, Japan.
³Division of Emergency, Critical Care Medicine, Niigata University Graduate School of Medical, Niigata, Japan.
⁴Institute for Human Movement and Medical Sciences, Niigata University of Health and Welfare, Niigata, Japan.

Rationale: Recent studies have reported the effectiveness of the early introduction of rehabilitation for preventing muscle weakness in patients in the intensive care unit (ICU). The early introduction of full-scale rehabilitation by a physical therapist is difficult in some cases because of disease severity and/or patient conditions. However, mild mobilization by a nurse (MMN), as a part of standard care performed, may have a positive effect on patient recovery. We examined the effect of the early introduction of MMN on the recovery of patients in the ICU. Methods: We retrospectively examined patients admitted to Niigata University Hospital’s ICU during between April 2014 and March 2015 who were receiving mechanical ventilation for 7 days or more. Patients were divided into two groups according to the date of initiation of MMN: group L comprised patients for whom MMN was started after 72 hours and group E comprised patients for whom MMN was started within 72 hours after ICU admission. The data were analyzed using the Fisher test, Mann-Whitney U test, and Wilcoxon test. Statistical significance was defined as P < 0.05. Results: Sixty-three patients were included: 42 patients in group L and 21 in group E. There was no significant difference between the two groups in patients’ background, including the type of illness, steroid use, presence of sepsis or diabetes, and sequential organ failure assessment (SOFA) score on ICU admission; however, the SOFA score at ICU discharge was significantly decreased in group E compared to that in group L (6.21 versus 4.30; P = 0.034). Conclusion: Our results indicate that MMN may reduce disease severity if started within 72 hours after ICU admission.

Intensive Care Unit (ICU), Nurse, Mobilization, Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) Score

Mitobe, Y. , Koyama, Y. , Aoki, H. , Shimizu, U. , Muramatsu, Y. , Koyama, C. , Sakai, S. , Iwasa, Y. , Kikunaga, J. , Taguchi, M. , Nitta, M. , Endoh, H. , Kitajima, M. and Morishita, S. (2016) Effect of the Early Introduction of Mild Mobilization Performed by Nurses on the Recovery of Patients in the Intensive Care Unit. Open Journal of Nursing, 6, 969-976. doi: 10.4236/ojn.2016.612093.