Acute Care Early Rehab in Critical Care

Background: Our story is all for the patient…all for their family…all for the staff. Our story is a promise to each critically ill patient that we will provide the gold standard of care, the highest quality and the safest care they can expect at Henry Ford Hospital. A critically ill patient is at risk for a lifetime of impact from this hospital stay. Our story is a time when every critically ill patient at HFH will receive a PT and OT consult within 12-24 hours of medical stability. These patients will be assessed, treated and monitored by skilled professionals with the highest levels of competency to achieve the highest level of activity they can physiologically tolerate whether ventilated or not. These patients will spend less time in the bed, have less need for sedation, less risk of delirium, less time on a ventilator, less chance of DVT and pressure ulcer. These patients will feel more human because they see hope in completing ADLs or walking outside a hospital room. These patients will be cheered up, cheered on, motivated and comforted. Nurses, therapists, providers will be empowered to improve the patients experience while engaging in meaningful humanizing activities. Case managers will be able to start discharge planning sooner as all patients in any ICU and will have documented discharge recommendations without delay. Our story is all for the patient and all for their family. And all for the right thing to do to partner with the team to reduce length of stay in the ICU and in the hospital.

Henry Ford Innovations: The rehab department worked closely with the Innovation Institute to create the High Acuity Walker, designed specifically to aid gait training with critically ill patients.