The Fundació Assistencial Mútua Terrassa has taken a patient out of the Intensive Care Unit to an outdoor space for the first time this Thursday as part of the Passejos que curen program. The outing took place in the morning in the plaça de les Quadres with Joan Armengol Ruiz, who has been admitted to the ICU for more than a month and a half.
The initiative arises from an unusual situation in this type of unit. Patients who remain hospitalized and under intensive care can leave the closed environment of the ICU when they present hemodynamic and respiratory stability and the medical team validates that the displacement can be done with guarantees.
The first walk took an ICU patient to the plaça de les Quadres
Joan Armengol Ruiz admitted that he initially rejected the proposal. He then changed his mind when he learned what the destination of the outing would be.
"The first response was no, because when you've spent so many days in the same room, the idea of going out didn't appeal to me," but upon learning the destination, he added that "that is indeed an ideal and quiet place to do it" - Joan Armengol Ruiz, ICU patient at Fundació Assistencial Mútua Terrassa
After completing the walk, the patient assessed the experience in very direct terms. He assured that it is a "spectacular and fabulous activity for the sick" and added that, if he could, he would repeat it every day.
Later, he insisted on the same idea with another equally concrete phrase. "On my part, tomorrow morning if you want," he said, before recommending it to other inpatients because, in his opinion, "they will feel much better."
The hospital reserves the program for ICU admissions of more than fifteen days
Passejos que curen is part of the Humanization and Patient Experience Plan and is standardized for stays longer than fifteen days. The hospital has also set prior clinical criteria to select candidates who can participate.
These conditions include hemodynamic and respiratory stability and validation by the medical team. The transfer can be done in a wheelchair, although it can also be done in an ICU bed when the patient's condition requires it.
Anna Cabasés, Head Nurse of the Intensive Medicine Area, linked the measure to the evolution of patients outside the usual admission space.
"It makes it clear to us that walks outside the unit are therapeutic" and the controlled environment "provides physical and emotional benefits, but improvements in their functional recovery are also perceived" - Anna Cabasés, Head of Nursing for the Intensive Medicine Area, Fundació Assistencial Mútua Terrassa
The Fundació Assistencial Mútua Terrassa wants to maintain the program according to care needs and staff availability. The center's plan is to organize outings several times a week.
The program was standardized for patients with stays in the ICU longer than fifteen days, although Joan Armengol Ruiz had been admitted for more than a month and a half when he participated in the first morning walk in Plaça de les Quadres.