Pilot Mobility Assist Team: Partnering Nursing Staff with Student Interns To Achieve Outcomes

Background: Prevention of hospital acquired pressure ulcers is imperative to providing quality care and avoiding non-payment for hospital acquired stage III and stage IV pressure ulcers.  Patients at an urban acute care facility are especially vulnerable due to increasing acuity and multiple co-morbid conditions. Barriers causing inconsistent implementation of preventative interventions prompted the creative use of resources to provide quality care.

Purpose:  Develop a pilot project partnering student interns with nursing staff in repositioning for pressure ulcer prevention.

Objective: Engage and empower nursing staff in pressure ulcer prevention through the provision of manpower support for position changes.

Intervention:  Nursing staff at an urban acute care facility were knowledgeable of evidence-based protocols for the prevention of pressure ulcers, but reported staffing levels as a barrier to consistently re-positioning every two hours. The WOC nursing team developed and implemented a pilot mobility assist team to establish the structure and manpower for repositioning. The students received  education on pressure ulcer prevention, fall prevention, and safe patient handling. They  were given pagers and shirts labeled “Mobility Assist”. The interns would visit units at assigned times and responded to pages to assist staff with transfers and re-positioning patients. 

Outcome: During the 2012 internship, students provided  304 assists, including 222 patient turns.  Although the team was not used to the extent hypothesized, the availability of the mobility assist team helped integrate scheduled turning and teamwork to achieve regular repositioning.  In the following months,  inpatient units started to establish their own turning teams as part of our LEAN initiative. The project was re-implemented in 2013, with increased use of the team by nursing staff. During the second summer, 655 assists and 566 turns were completed.  This unique use of summer interns was a benefit to the patients, the nursing staff, and an excellent educational experience for the interns.