clinical practice
Move it or lose it
Nurses have their say on the barriers to keeping patients active .
Danny Hills interviewed by Eleanor Campbell
With COVID-19 severely restricting physical activity on wards , nurses have spoken out about the most significant challenges they face when getting their patients up and moving .
Professor Danny Hills and his colleagues at Federation University surveyed 138 nurses and found heavy workloads , ward structures and family attitudes are consistent barriers .
“ Our research really has shown that nurses think it ’ s really , really important ,” said Hills .
“ But they are kind of frustrated because there are so many other things that they have to do on their busy day .”
Eleven nurses were interviewed in-depth about their experiences in subacute wards . Organisational planning was a recurring issue that deterred nurses from initiating patient movement .
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“ The way health services are organised , it can be hard for them to be involved in discussions and decisions around patient care ,” Hills said
Nurses also reported that patients and their families perceived hospital as a place to recuperate and didn ’ t prioritise the need to move around .
“ There needs to be a lot more work around informing patients and families about the importance of being active , and how they can really be engaged in helping that process along .”
Creative solutions such as installing reading nooks , or small spaces for group activity , could encourage patients to get out of bed and come together , Hills said .
Professor Hills joined Nursing Review to discuss the role of nurses in preventing sedentary behaviour and how they feel they can be better supported in this endeavour .
NR : Is physical inactivity an issue that you noticed early on in your nursing career ? DH : I can remember back to a time when I had my appendix out and I was pretty young . But I remember staying in bed for about 10 days , and of course when I got up , I fell onto the floor , which was pretty painful . When I had some surgery done about 20-odd years ago I was strongly encouraged to get up by a physiotherapist in the hospital the day after I ’ d had the surgery on my leg , so a lot had changed over the years .
My background has been in mental health mainly , but of course we all know how important physical activity is for your health and wellbeing . And if you ’ re used to moving around , if you ’ re used to doing exercise , if you ’ re used to doing physical things , it seems hard to imagine that you could get by without doing that .
I think if you do any work in hospitals you would know that staying in bed is generally seen as not a good thing . But in acute care , people generally don ’ t stay that long . It ’ s where there are longer stays such as in rehabilitation services , or other kinds of services like subacute services , geriatric evaluation services , where people may be older , less firm or recovering from accidents or chronic illnesses where you ’ d expect to see people getting up , but it doesn ’ t always happen .