On a recent trip to Arizona I met Woody, a patient at the Banner Gateway/ MD Anderson hospital. Woody is a 72 year old, retired long distance truck driver who has been battling leukemia for over a year. When we met, Woody had already been in the Oncology ICU for over a week after undergoing stem cell transplant, and he was quite frustrated. Whenever he wanted to get up and walk he had to put on his call light, wait for staff who then had to get his walker and get an extra helper to pull along his IV pole and oxygen caddy while he ambulated. He often waited for up to thirty minutes and sometimes by the time enough staff was available he had “run out of steam.” Woody trialed the LIVENGOOD mobi for five days and by the second day he was deemed safe to be up walking independently with the mobi. He would unplug the mobi cord from the wall and he was good to go. He would often do 5 laps around the unit with his iPAD on the mobi playing music while he walked. Having a handy place to plug in his iPAD meant a lot to him and hearing the upbeat music made him, and everyone around him smile. Woody would stop any nurse who was available and tell them all about the mobi and how great it felt to be independent.
The mobi is designed to simplify ambulation by keeping all of the patient’s equipment with them wherever they go. The increase in mobility ease and efficiency makes the hospital experience significantly better for both patient and staff. Everything changed after Woody had his hands on the mobi.
It is no secret patient mobility is tied to results. A Johns Hopkins study found that early mobility in the ICU vastly improves patient outcomes and can save hospitals up to $1,300 per patient by decreasing their stay up to 22 percent.
The fact is, it is impossible for staff to meet the mobility needs of every patient, so tools like the LIVENGOOD mobi prove invaluable in increasing the frequency of mobilization; increasing patient mobility and decreasing length of stay; increasing staff efficiency and patient satisfaction, and helping hospitals save money.
