Objective. Hospital in Motion is a multidimensional implementation project aiming to improve movement behavior during hospitalization. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of Hospital in Motion on movement behavior. Methods. This prospective study used a pre-implementation and post-implementation design. Hospital in Motion was conducted at 4 wards of an academic hospital in the Netherlands. In each ward, multidisciplinary teams followed a 10-month step-by-step approach, including the development and implementation of a ward-specific action plan with multiple interventions to improve movement behavior. Inpatient movement behavior was assessed before the start of the project and 1 year later using a behavioral mapping method in which patients were observed between 9:00 am and 4:00 pm. The primary outcome was the percentage of time spent lying down. In addition, sitting and moving, immobility-related complications, length of stay, discharge destination home, discharge destination rehabilitation setting, mortality, and 30-day readmissions were investigated. Differences between pre-implementation and post-implementation conditions were analyzed using the chi-square test for dichotomized variables, the Mann Whitney test for non-normal distributed data, or independent samples t test for normally distributed data. Results. Patient observations demonstrated that the primary outcome, the time spent lying down, changed from 60.1% to 52.2%. For secondary outcomes, the time spent sitting increased from 31.6% to 38.3%, and discharges to a rehabilitation setting reduced from 6 (4.4%) to 1 (0.7%). No statistical differences were found in the other secondary outcome measures. Conclusion. The implementation of the multidimensional project Hospital in Motion was associated with patients who were hospitalized spending less time lying in bed and with a reduced number of discharges to a rehabilitation setting. Impact. Inpatient movement behavior can be influenced by multidimensional interventions. Programs implementing interventions that specifically focus on improving time spent moving, in addition to decreasing time spent lying, are recommended.
Objective: To evaluate the preliminary effectiveness of a goal-directed movement intervention using a movement sensor on physical activity of hospitalized patients. Design: Prospective, pre-post study. Setting: A university medical center. Participants: Patients admitted to the pulmonology and nephrology/gastro-enterology wards. Intervention: The movement intervention consisted of (1) self-monitoring of patients' physical activity, (2) setting daily movement goals and (3) posters with exercises and walking routes. Physical activity was measured with a movement sensor (PAM AM400) which measures active minutes per day. Main measures: Primary outcome was the mean difference in active minutes per day pre- and post-implementation. Secondary outcomes were length of stay, discharge destination, immobility-related complications, physical functioning, perceived difficulty to move, 30-day readmission, 30-day mortality and the adoption of the intervention. Results: A total of 61 patients was included pre-implementation, and a total of 56 patients was included post-implementation. Pre-implementation, patients were active 38 ± 21 minutes (mean ± SD) per day, and post-implementation 50 ± 31 minutes per day (Δ12, P = 0.031). Perceived difficulty to move decreased from 3.4 to 1.7 (0-10) (Δ1.7, P = 0.008). No significant differences were found in other secondary outcomes. Conclusions: The goal-directed movement intervention seems to increase physical activity levels during hospitalization. Therefore, this intervention might be useful for other hospitals to stimulate inpatient physical activity.
By applying Axiomatic Design, a Smart Medical Cast was developed to provide patients, who are suffering from forearm fractures, with a personalized healing process. The device monitors the overall healing status and three complications, which are: Muscle Atrophy, Compartment Syndrome, and Deep Vein Thrombosis. In the conceptual phase, desk research has been performed to find biomarkers that correlate with the monitored processes. Per biomarker, a measuring principle has been designed and these combined formed the design of the smart medical cast. Following the design phase, two tests were performed on healthy individuals to measure the robustness in a real application. The first test focused on correctly measuring the biomarkers and further specifying the sensor specifications. For the second test, a new prototype was used to determine correlations between the measured data and the monitored process and the impact of application during the casting process. The test results show that the measuring system can measure the biomarkers within the expected range, except for bone density. No significant impact on the casting process was measured. The Smart Medical Cast has only been evaluated in situations without a fracture, the next step will be to test the measurables in an environment with a fracture
