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Walking round a ward could cut hospital stay, says study
Published On: 10th August 2011
By: Ashley Curtis
Elderly patients can reduce their hospital stay by an average of 36 hours if they can get out of bed and walk around, reports Daily Mail.
The study of nearly 500 patients aged 70, conducted by the University of Haifa in Israel, found that those who walked round a ward on the first day of being in hospital had an increased chance of leaving the hospital earlier, those in locums jobs might be interested to hear.
The researchers gathered data by asking participants to fill in questionnaires about their physical condition and, according to the researchers, staying in bed all day could be a mistake for older patients, dispelling any myths about getting rest.
Older people's reserve muscles can "decompose quite quickly", leaving them weak or immobile, claimed the study.
"If they shift from a mode of mobility - even if it was minimal - to a state of almost complete immobility, and even for just a few short days of hospitalisation, they could very quickly lose their muscle "reserves", resulting in more difficulties functioning and other complications," they said.
In addition, this could prove helpful for the hospital as well as the patient, as the "over-occupancy" of hospitals could be shifted if more and more patients manage to leave early, cites The Express.