THE IMPORTANCE OF EARLY MOBILIZATION IN REDUCING COSTS AND IMPROVING THE QUALITY OF INTENSIVE CARE UNITS

• Autor(a) principal: Reis, Geovane Rossone
• Data de Publicação: 2018
• Outros Autores: Rossone, Anny Pires de Freitas, Santos, Thamyris Pereira Gloria, Nevez, Rosângela de Souza
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Revista de Atenção à Saúde
• Texto Completo: http://seer.uscs.edu.br/index.php/revista_ciencias_saude/article/view/4922
• topic: Mobilização precoce; fisioterapia; unidade de terapia intensiva; Early mobilization; physiotherapy; intensive care unit

Introduction: The costs associated with the high rate of patient retention in ICU beds became one of the major public health problems, and interventions with early mobilization can cause an important reduction of these costs, from programs aimed at reducing the muscle strength loss and prolonged mechanical ventilation. Muscle decline due to the length of stay leads to functional dependence and to a greater need for care after discharge; it may even cause disability retirement. Objective: To evaluate and describe the scale economies from the Physiotherapy service based on early mobilization in intensive care units, as well as to cite improvements in quality indicators. Methods: Bibliographical and exploratory research in the electronic databases Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online (MEDLINE), Scientific Electronic Library Online (SciELO), Latin American and Caribbean Health Sciences Literature (LILACS), Virtual Health Library (VHL), and WHO Library Database (WHOLIS), through articles published between 2000 and 2014. Discussion: Most of the papers describes the high costs related to excessive use of drugs and medical gases in intensive and extensive therapy and the benefit of early mobilization with regarding the reduction of the length of stay and functional decline, which also decreases the rate of dependency and disability after discharge. Conclusions: Physiotherapy is considered inseparable of the intensive care unit and, when effectively performed through patient mobilization, it decreases hospital costs and helps reducing the length of stay, generating greater supply of vacant beds for the population and diminishing the deleterious effects of prolonged immobility.