We deal with lots of tubes and wires in a rehab setting, but I can only imagine that number squared in an ICU.
2 comments:
Anonymous
said...
Getting some patients out of bed is impressively complex!
We call it "taking them for a bag and drag!"
We disconnect them from the ventilator and an RT bags them. There's two or three physiotherapists to ensure proper mobility, including one that crawls on his/her hands and knees on the floor to make sure the legs are going to the right place.
Slowly but surely, we make it a few feet if we're lucky.
Of course, there's several RNs to roll and operate the the several IV polls--just making sure the lines don't get caught on things is a chore in itself.
We don't do it often. We usually start mobilizing patients when they are off the ventilator and are a bit de-intensified. However, with patients that are difficult to wean from the vent, it's very effective.
It's funny, because one of the reasons I went to the ICU was because I didn't like mobilizing patients. Walking people to the bathroom or around the unit was my absolute least favorite part of the job.
So, imagine my surprise when I discovered that ICU patients are mobilized. Thankfully, it's a much lesser part of my job now, and there isn't that pressure like on the floor to have all five my patients up, walked, washed at a sink and in a chair by 9am.
I don't work in ICU but walking post-open heart patients with 2 Pleuravacs from 4 chest tubes, foley, 2 JP's, external pacer, O2, IV pole, and a portable suction is not an unusual site. Thanks to O2 carts, and another staff, it is doable!
Yes, mobilization does a lot. To prevent PNA is one very good reason.
2 comments:
Getting some patients out of bed is impressively complex!
We call it "taking them for a bag and drag!"
We disconnect them from the ventilator and an RT bags them. There's two or three physiotherapists to ensure proper mobility, including one that crawls on his/her hands and knees on the floor to make sure the legs are going to the right place.
Slowly but surely, we make it a few feet if we're lucky.
Of course, there's several RNs to roll and operate the the several IV polls--just making sure the lines don't get caught on things is a chore in itself.
We don't do it often. We usually start mobilizing patients when they are off the ventilator and are a bit de-intensified. However, with patients that are difficult to wean from the vent, it's very effective.
It's funny, because one of the reasons I went to the ICU was because I didn't like mobilizing patients. Walking people to the bathroom or around the unit was my absolute least favorite part of the job.
So, imagine my surprise when I discovered that ICU patients are mobilized. Thankfully, it's a much lesser part of my job now, and there isn't that pressure like on the floor to have all five my patients up, walked, washed at a sink and in a chair by 9am.
I don't work in ICU but walking post-open heart patients with 2 Pleuravacs from 4 chest tubes, foley, 2 JP's, external pacer, O2, IV pole, and a portable suction is not an unusual site. Thanks to O2 carts, and another staff, it is doable!
Yes, mobilization does a lot. To prevent PNA is one very good reason.
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