Rationale: Consensus recommendations have been developed to guide exercise rehabilitation of mechanically ventilated patients in the intensive care unit.
Objective: This study aimed to investigate the safety of exercise rehabilitation of mechanically ventilated patients and evaluate the consensus recommendations.
Methods: This was a prospective, single-centre, cohort study conducted in a specialist cardiothoracic intensive care unit of a tertiary, university affiliated hospital in Australia.
Results: 91 mechanically ventilated participants; 54 (59.3%) male; mean age of 56.52 (16.3) years; were studied with 809 occasions of service recorded. Ten (0.0182%) minor adverse events were recorded, with only one adverse event occurring when a patient was receiving moderate level of vasoactive support.
Conclusions: The consensus recommendations are a useful tool in guiding safe exercise rehabilitation of mechanically ventilated patients. Our findings suggest that there is further scope to safely commence exercise rehabilitation in patients receiving vasoactive support.
Keywords: Critical care; Exercise; Inotropes; Intensive care unit; Mechanical ventilation; Physiotherapy; Vasopressors.
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