I am a Physical Therapist in Acute care at SFGH. My idea revolves around Early Mobilization in the ICU. 3 years ago 5E/5R MICU did a study of mobilizing ICU patients as soon as they were medically safe, instead of the old model of letting the patient rest in bed while in ICU. From the study, we found that the patients health improved faster, the patients had less days in ICU, less days in hospital and higher chances of having a home discharge. All of the above findings equals a cheaper hospital stay and less cost for the consumer and our hospital. Since the study 3 years ago, we have continued the concept of Early Mobilization in the MICU and are also trying to move into the 4E SICU.

In order to make the Early Mobilization Project work correctly the ICU would need a full time PT dedicated to the units to support and implement the project. At this time I only am able to spend about .4 of my FTE in the ICU. This makes it difficult to successfully implement Early Mobility daily and consistently.

If you would like, we have a presentation and data that supports the success of this program.

So I suggest A full time PT position to help save money on all ICU hospital stays.