Increasing patient mobility through an individualized goal-centered hospital mobility program: A quasi-experimental quality improvement project

Background: Hospital-acquired functional decline due to decreased mobility has negative impacts on patient outcomes. Current nurse-directed mobility programs lack a standardized approach to set achievable mobility goals.

Purpose: We aimed to describe implementation and outcomes from a nurse-directed patient mobility program.

Method: The quality improvement mobility program on the project unit was compared to a similar control unit providing usual care. The Johns Hopkins Mobility Goal Calculator was created to guide a daily patient mobility goal based on the level of mobility impairment.

Findings: On the project unit, patient mobility increased from 5.2 to 5.8 on the Johns Hopkins Highest Level of Mobility score, mobility goal attainment went from 54.2% to 64.2%, and patients exceeding the goal went from 23.3% to 33.5%. All results were significantly higher than the control unit.

Discussion: An individualized, nurse-directed, patient mobility program using daily mobility goals is a successful strategy to improve daily patient mobility in the hospital.