Supervised Walking Program Benefits Veterans Admitted to Hospital

TUESDAY, June 6, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- For veterans admitted to the hospitals, a supervised walking program, AssiSTed EaRly MobIlity for HospitalizeD Veterans (STRIDE), is associated with lower odds of discharge to a skilled nursing facility (SNF), according to a study published online June 6 in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

Susan N. Hastings, M.D., from the Durham VA Health Care System in North Carolina, and colleagues examined the effect of implementation of a supervised walking program on discharge to an SNF, length of stay, and inpatient falls in a cluster randomized trial involving patients aged 60 years or older admitted for two or more days to a participating medicine ward. Patients were similar in the pre-STRIDE and post-STRIDE time periods (6,722 and 6,141 patients, respectively).

The researchers found that per hospital, the proportion of patients with any documented walk during a potentially eligible hospitalization varied from 0.6 to 22.7 percent. The estimated rates of discharge to an SNF were 13 and 8 percent pre- and post-STRIDE, respectively. The odds of discharge to an SNF were lower among eligible patients hospitalized in post-STRIDE time periods versus pre-STRIDE (odds ratio, 0.6). No differences were seen in length of stay or inpatient falls.

"Health systems should consider hospital walking programs as a reasonable means to improve quality of care for older adults," the authors write.

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