Interdisciplinary Education on Using the Combilizer For Grooming Tasks in the Intensive Care Unit

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to provide a teaching and learning program to the interdisciplinary team on how to use the Sara Combilizer with critically ill patients to increase efficacy for early progressive mobility (EPM) by facilitating grooming tasks. Methods: A teaching and learning program on using the Sara Combilizer to facilitate grooming tasks was provided to the acute care therapy team at a hospital. The program included an evidence-based lecture, a practice case study, and a digital instructional manual. The program was evaluated through a pre- and post-survey, and a quality improvement survey. The Wilcoxon signed-rank test and descriptive statistics were used to evaluate the results of the surveys. Results: A total of 31 care team members participated in the program. The results revealed a statistically significant increase in the overall score by 25%. Each category score also had a statistically significant increase, which included the knowledge score by 27%, understanding score by 22%, and confidence score by 26%. Conclusion: In this capstone project, the acute care therapy team at the hospital learned about how to use the Combilizer to increase efficacy for EPM by facilitating grooming tasks. The program included education on the uses and benefits of the device, provided an instructional manual, and helped increase safety awareness on mobilizing patients. Overall, the participants of the program reported an increase in knowledge, understanding, and confidence in using the device with critically ill patients.