---

E-mail to a friend | Print This | Select Text Size:
A strategy for whole-body rehabilitation consisting of interruption of sedation and physical and occupational therapy in the earliest days of critical illness resulted in better functional outcomes at hospital discharge, a shorter duration of delirium, and more ventilator-free days compared with standard care in a study published in The Lancet.

In the study of 104 ICU patients at two university hospitals, return to independent functional status at hospital discharge occurred in 59% of those in the intervention group compared with 35% patients in the control group. Patients in the intervention group had shorter duration of delirium, two days versus four days, and more ventilator-free days, 23.5 days versus 21.1 days, during the 28-day follow-up period than did controls.

Discontinuation of therapy as a result of patient instability occurred in 4% of all sessions, most commonly for perceived patient-ventilator asynchrony.

---

To comment, e-mail editorNTL@gannetthg.com.