Mobile UPI  |   About UPI  |   UPI en Español  |   UPI Arabic  |   UPIU  |   My Account
Search:
Go

ICU physical therapy can cut hospital stay

|
|
 
  
Published: Oct. 24, 2007 at 6:45 PM

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C., Oct. 24 (UPI) -- Early physical therapy for patients with respiratory-failure reduced their time in the hospital by three days, a U.S. study said.

Nursing assistants provided passive range of motion therapy in the intensive care unit by flexed the joints of the patients’ upper and lower limbs three times a day, seven days a week within 48 hours of the insertion of a breathing tube.

Dr. Peter Morris of Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, N.C., said mobility and the resulting loss of physical conditioning are common problems for patients with respiratory failure.

As the patients, who cannot breathe without the assistance of a ventilator recovered, they received more advanced physical therapy from a physical therapist.

The therapy proved safe, and there was also no addition to hospital costs because the salaries of the employees who provided mobility therapy were offset by reduced lengths of stay in the hospital, Morris said.

The findings were presented at the annual meeting of the American College of Chest Physicians in Chicago.

Topics: Peter Morris
© 2007 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI's prior written consent.

Order reprints
  
Join the conversation
Most Popular Collections
Protesters, police clash at NATO summit Notable deaths of 2012 2012 Billboard Music Awards
The 137th Preakness Stakes Annual Solar eclipse occurs in U.S. Chen Guangcheng arrives in the U.S.
Additional Health News Stories
1 of 29
Members of the Army's Old Guard place flags at Arlington National Ceremtery
View Caption
U.S. flags are seen in the rucksack of a soldier with the Army's 3d U.S. Infantry Regiment, The Old Guard, as he places flags at gravesites in Arlington National Cemetery as part of the Flags-In Memorial Day ceremony on May 24, 2012 in Arlington, Virginia. American flags were placed at each of the more than 220,000 grave markers in honor of those who served and Memorial Day. UPI/Kevin Dietshc
fark
Woman swallows toothbrush while brushing her teeth. Surgeons remove it before Oral B becomes Anal...
MSNBC Host Chris Hayes: I'm 'Uncomfortable' calling fallen military 'Heroes'
What do you REALLY know about the Queen?
A survey reveals that one-third of British pet owners would rather go away with their pet on vacation...
I'm thinking of using a non-sequitor to greet various people. I was thinking something like "Brother"...
Photoshop this Passing President