Best Hospital Chairs for Early Mobilisation

Mobilising the patient as early as possible is essential to help their body recover from intensive treatment, and prevent patient deconditioning, a process where the muscle mass and physical strength of the patient starts to deteriorate.

This article highlights the importance of mobilising early in hospital recovery, and covers the seating features needed to make this happen.

Jump straight to…

• • The Importance of Early Mobilisation
  • Early Mobilisation After Surgery
  • How can Seating Help Mobilisation in Acute Care?
  • Best Seating Features for Early Mobilisation
  • Conclusion

The Importance of Early Mobilisation

Early mobilisation of patients is a critical priority for hospitals in their mission to reduce waiting lists and improve discharge times.

Pyjama Paralysis

At the end of 2022, there were 30% more patients medically fit to be discharged than the previous year. This issue of bed blocking (or ‘pyjama paralysis’ as it is commonly known in hospitals) leaves patients at greater risk of picking up HAIs (Hospital Acquired Infections) and contracting pressure injuries, weakening their health further and prolonging their stay in hospital.

In a previous article we looked in detail at the issue of deconditioning, a factor that contributes to delayed discharge in acute and general wards. Deconditioning can occur quickly in ICUs and HDUs when patients are immobile for longer periods of time. A reduction in muscle mass and bone mineral density can occur, causing older patients to lose up to 1kg of muscle mass per 10 days of bedrest.

This in turn results in a greater care load for staff, and adds financial burden to the NHS to the tune of £1621 per day for an ICU bed.

Benefits of Early Mobilisation

Early mobilisation brings a whole host of benefits to hospitals, significantly reducing the length of patient stay. It improves future health outcomes for the patient, and has been proven to reduce care-acquired weakness, which can develop very quickly when patients are immobile for a long period.

Early Mobilisation After Surgery

After surgical procedures, patients will be moved into a recovery room to be assessed before being transferred onto the main ward.

What is a recovery room in hospital?

Also known as a Post Anaesthesia Care Unit (PACU), recovery rooms in hospital are where patients are monitored after surgery as they come round from the anaesthesia. Patients are closely monitored as they stabilise, to check their vital signs are good and deal with any after-effects of the operation.

The length of time patients stay in the hospital recovery room before being moved onto the ward and discharged can be anywhere between 30 minutes to a few hours, depending on the type of surgery.

It’s a good idea to mobilise as soon as possible, as lying in bed for too long can put you at risk of a blood clot.

How can Seating Help Mobilisation in Acute Care?

Having the right mechanisms in the chair can help patients mobilise easier with less effort, and take the strain away from staff when helping patients in critical care wards regain their physical strength and movement.

There are lots of different seating features that can help patients mobilise and recover, depending on their overall level of health and physical condition. These can range from lie-flat stretcher-style seating to high backed chairs, as we cover in the next section.

Best Seating Features for Early Mobilisation

Lie-flat functionality

Being able to convert the chair to a horizontal lie-flat position is a really useful feature for fast-paced intensive care wards. It allows fast and efficient transport of the patient without moving or repositioning them, particularly helpful for when the patient has suffered traumatic injuries or is unconscious.

Height adjustment

Easy height adjustment with an electric handset makes care routines easier, raising the chair to the right height to carry out leg exercises or administer treatments/drugs. Helping patients regain their mobility quicker prevents deconditioning and enables faster discharge, increasing the available space on wards.

Easy transfers

When patients start to regain their mobility, transferring on and off the chair becomes easier by removing the sides of the chair and adjusting to the right height for the transfer surface, making the transfer smoother and minimising moving & handling risks. Stretcher-style positioning makes it easier for staff to move the chair around, and transfer patients between wards or to the hospital garden etc.

Sertain chair

The Sertain chair features different electric movement functions for easier caregiving.

Sertain HILO Chair for ICU, Intensive Care, and Early Mobilisation

Lie-flat functionality

The Sertain chair can be laid fully flat, enabling quick and safe mobilisation of trauma patients. It also eliminates the need for hoist transfers, as the patient can be pat-slided from the bed to chair and vice versa.

Hi-Lo adjustment range of 550-850mm

This helps the nursing staff administer care by moving the chair to the appropriate height for caregiving.

Drop-down sides

The drop-down sides give easier access to the patient particularly in emergency situations like CPR, and also assist with transfers.

QuickCare Pro Lie-Flat Chair

The QuickCare Pro is another lie-flat chair, with market-leading levels of height adjustment. It is suited to a wide range of different acute care settings, like dialysis, day surgery and oncology. The patient can be transferred onto the chair in the prone position if they are too weak to mobilise, and from there they can be gradually repositioned into a recovery sitting position with the handset.

QuickCare Pro

The Hi-Lo adjustment allows the chair to range from 470-800mm floor to seat height, giving a larger range of height adjustment than the Sertain chair to help patients of all sizes mobilise on and off the chair.

HiBack Bedside Chair

The HiBack Chair was developed alongside the NHS to specifically counter the problems of deconditioning in hospital wards. Traditionally, bedside seating is hard and uncomfortable, which not only discourages patients from getting out of bed but creates pressure problems.

The HiBack chair has turned the status quo on its head with its effortless height adjustment, high pressure-relief Levitex cushions and 4-way stretch fabric, and ergonomic positioning adjustments.

Flip-back armrests

The flip-back armrests can be moved entirely out of the way for side transfers, and are well padded to give maximum support when standing up from the chair.

Sara Stedy compatible

The HiBack has been designed for maximum compatibility with the Sara Stedy transfer aid, to help weaker and more frail patients transfer more easily.

Ergonomic positioning

The seat rake and back angle have been designed to prevent the patient sliding forwards out of the chair, with adjustable levels of lumbar support to provide postural stability when sitting out in the chair.

Conclusion

The priority for seating in critical care is having inbuilt functions that will help the patient mobilise as soon as possible after intensive surgery, and prevent ICU-acquired weakness.

Good infection control features are also paramount to prevent the spread of any infection that could interfere with the patient’s recovery.

If you need a review of your ICU seating, why not reach out to one of our Acute Care Team?