Papaspyros S, Uppal S, Khan SA, Paul S, O'Regan DJ. The aim of this study was to compare the level of postoperative physical activity and length of in-hospital stay of patients undergoing cardiac surgery depending on whether they had access to bedside entertainment services (BES) or not. Pedometers were used to quantify postoperative physical activity for 5 days. On average, patients with no access to BES walked more than those with BES access. Patients with no access to BES were 84% more likely to walk higher number of steps than patients with access to BES. On average, participants with access to BES were likely to stay longer in hospital, than participants with no access to BES. This study suggests that bedside entertainment systems may have an adverse effect on post cardiac surgery patient ambulation and may contribute to an increase in hospital stay. European Journal of Cardiothoracic Surgery 2008 Aug 13. (Epub ahead of print)
Rachael Lowe
Rachael Lowe is Co-Founder and Executive Director of Physiopedia. A physiotherapist and technology specialist Rachael has been working with Physiopedia since 2008 to create a resource that provides universal access to physiotherapy knowledge as well as a platform for connecting and educating the global physiotherapy profession.