Historically, patients supported on extra corporeal membrane oxygenation were thought to be too unstable to engage in early mobility but are at increased risk for deconditioning from prolonged immobilization due to the nature of illness, numerous cannulas, equipment, and hemodynamic and respiratory instability along with heavy sedation/analgesia or paralysis. This article will discuss the specific considerations that should be employed to keep the patient and the staff safe while providing mobility to patients on extra corporeal membrane oxygenation.

A review of the literature revealed that there was a dearth of information regarding the financial impact of implementing a mobility program in an intensive care unit. The purpose of this article was to identify and quantify costs and cost-benefit from implementing a mobility protocol. Factors to be considered when implementing a mobility program in an intensive care unit are identified and discussed. The increased acuity and lengths of stay associated with this population and the unavoidable increase in the incidence of hospital-acquired pressure ulcers make it difficult to extrapolate the economic benefits of the mobility program at this time.

As professionals who operate under ethical duties to their patients, nurses are particularly familiar with having toact in singular devotion to another.

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