Walking Speed Differences Following Open Heart Surgery Vary with Discharge Destination

Introduction

The study "Walking Speed Differences Following Open Heart Surgery Vary with Discharge Destination" investigates whether gait speed can be used to guide the recommendations of discharge disposition from critical care in patients after median sternotomy open heart surgery (Kathleen et al. 56). To effectively carry this study, the gait speed of 59 patients aged between 44 and 90 years was determined. The outcomes of this study are beneficial in understanding the relationship between walking speed of open cardiac surgery and discharge destination. From the results of the study, the average gait speed for males was 0.37m/s while that of females was 0.24m/s (Kathleen et al. 56). The study reveals that patients with a slow gait speed were more likely to be discharged to the acute rehabilitation. This is supported by the results of the research showing that, out of the 59 patients investigated for gait speed following open heart surgery, 20 were discharged to acute rehabilitation, and their mean gait speed was 0.25m/s. Furthermore, ten patients with a mean gait speed of 0.25m/s were also discharged to subacute rehabilitation (Kathleen et al. 61). Also, from the results of the study, 29 patients with a mean gait speed of 0.42m/s were discharged to home (Kathleen et al. 61). Therefore, this study establishes that slow walkers were most likely to be discharged either to acute or subacute rehabilitation while fast walkers had a higher probability of being discharged to home. There exists a direct relationship between gait speed and the discharge distance following open cardiac surgery.

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This study also explored the relationship between the use of assistive walking devices and the gait speed, establishing that these patients were more likely to have a low gait speed and a subsequent discharge to acute and subacute rehabilitation (Kathleen et al. 61). Also, preexisting conditions, such as diabetes and controlled atrial fibrillation were found to have minimal effect on the gait speed of patients, confirming that gait speed is a good measure in predicting the discharge destination after open heart surgery (Kathleen et al. 60). According to Kathleen et al., there are no significant correlations between gait speed and another variable such as age as all patients faced mobility challenges after heart surgery. Therefore, all patients ambulate at slower speeds after open heart surgery (Kathleen et al. 62).

Conclusion

Conclusively, this study establishes that guide speed can be used to guide the recommendations for discharge for patients following a median sternotomy open cardiac surgery. The use of gait speed in clinical practice is a fast and straightforward method of predicting the discharge recommendations, and hence this study is very beneficial for current and future medical practice. Furthermore, this study forms a basis for other prospective studies on post-cardiac surgery interventions.

Works Cited

Albany, Kathleen, Khalid W. Bibi, and Kristin Curry Greenwood. "Walking Speed

Differences Following Open Heart Surgery Vary with Discharge Destination." Journal of Acute Care Physical Therapy 6.2 (2015): 56-63.