Monty Python was right about hospitals
One of my favorite Monty Python sketches is their hospital bit, from the original BBC series.
The conceit was that hospitals were letting people lie about in bed, when the best thing for them was exercise and hard work.
Spending time in an intensive care unit, tied to monitors and drips, can be as deadly as whatever landed you in.
So Dr. Peter Morris of Wake Forest is moving toward clinical trials of physical therapy in intensive care. Dale Needham of Johns Hopkins has already done a review of the procedure and says it works.
Needham's undergraduates have even created an ICU Mover (above) designed to get patients moving while in intensive care. A cross between a wheelchair and walker, with room for tubes and monitors, it "catches" patients when they tire.
In an October press release trumpeting an article on his approach in the Journal of the American Medical Association Needham said:
“The benefits of getting hospitalized patients out of bed and moving were understood during World War II with battlefield injuries. It’s becoming clear that the safety and benefits of early mobilization are real and that it’s better to get moving sooner rather than later.”
No word on when his patients might be building Dr. Needham a holiday home.