The efficacy of the electric patient hoist systems in mobilization

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: Long-term immobilization brings about physiological and biomechanical adverse effects on organs and systems. For enabling patients to stand on their feet and to be mobilized in the early period, electric patient hoist system (EPHS)accelerates the recovery of systemic functions and allows the patient with neurological diseases to become independent. Thisstudy aimed to investigate whether EPHS differs from conventional systems in the duration of hospitalization, mobility leveland return to activities of daily living by analyzing patients mobilized with EPHS in the early period.METHODS: We analyzed 30 patients with neurological diseases, who were aged 50-75 years and immobile for more than oneweek. The patients were divided into two groups as EPHS patients and controls. Before and after the treatment, we recordedage, height, weight, hospitalization duration and time of mobilization. Mobility was assessed using the clinical and Rivermeadmobility indexes while daily activities were evaluated with the Barthel index.RESULTS: Our results indicated that the hospitalization duration decreased significantly in the patients practicing withEPHS in comparison with the controls (p=0.014). When the groups were compared regarding the pre- and post-treatmentoutcomes of the clinical and Rivermead mobility indexes, the mobility levels of the EPHS group showed more considerableimprovement (p