# Randomized Trial of Assisted Ambulation to Improve Health Outcomes for Older Medical Inpatients

> **NIH NIH R01** · CLEVELAND CLINIC LERNER COM-CWRU · 2022 · $1,059,129

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
For older adults, prolonged hospitalization can lead to a devastating loss of mobility and independence. Each
year, 12 million adults over the age of 65 are hospitalized, and 30% are discharged to a post-acute care
facility. One of the risks of hospitalization is bed rest, which is associated with a number of hospital-acquired
complications, including falls, delirium, venous thrombosis and skin breakdown. Hospital mobility programs
attempt to ambulate patients up to three times daily, but this work is generally assigned to nurses, who have
many competing and often more pressing tasks. Consequently, ambulating patients is the most frequently
overlooked nursing duty. This problem has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting
nursing shortage. Small studies have examined the benefits of mobility technicians (MTs), whose sole job is to
safely ambulate patients. These studies have demonstrated that MTs can increase steps taken, but they are
too small to prove the impact of MTs on other outcomes, such as whether patients have in-hospital
complications or whether they can go home instead of to a post-acute care facility. Hospitals are hesitant to
adopt MT programs because they perceive them to be expensive and unproven. We propose to conduct a
large randomized trial to test the impact of MTs on short and intermediate term outcomes for 3000 patients
aged 65 years and older at 5 hospitals in 2 health systems. Patients will be randomized to receive supervised
ambulation up to 3 times daily with a MT or to receive usual care. All participants will wear an accelerometer on
their wrist to track their movement throughout the hospital stay. The study has 3 aims. First, we will compare
the mobility of patients at discharge (or 10 days) to assess the impact of the MTs on this outcome. We are
particularly interested in whether the use of MTs will increase the proportion of patients who can go home vs.
post-acute care, and whether the improvements in mobility are sustained at 30 days. Second, we will use
predictive modeling to identify which patients are most likely to benefit from this intervention. Third, we will
assess the impact of the intervention on overall costs associated with the episode of care, including inpatient
costs and the 30 days after discharge. This information will be important to convince health systems to adopt
this approach.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10519792
- **Project number:** 1R01AG073278-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** CLEVELAND CLINIC LERNER COM-CWRU
- **Principal Investigator:** MICHAEL B ROTHBERG
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $1,059,129
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2022-08-01 → 2027-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10519792

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10519792, Randomized Trial of Assisted Ambulation to Improve Health Outcomes for Older Medical Inpatients (1R01AG073278-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10519792. Licensed CC0.

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