Physical Activity in the Hospital: Documentation and Influence on Venous Thromboembolism Prophylaxis.

This study describes the availability of physical activity information in the electronic health record, explores how electronic health record documentation correlates with accelerometer-derived physical activity data, and examines whether measured physical activity relates to venous thromboembolism (VTE) prophylaxis use. Prospective observational data comes from community-dwelling older adults admitted to general medicine (n = 65). Spearman correlations were used to examine association of accelerometer-based daily step count with documented walking distance and with duration of VTE prophylaxis. Only 52% of patients had documented walking in nursing and/or physical therapy/occupational therapy notes during the first three hospital days. Median daily steps recorded via accelerometer was 1,370 (interquartile range = 854, 2,387) and correlated poorly with walking distance recorded in physical therapy/occupational therapy notes (median 33 feet/day [interquartile range = 12, 100]; r = .24; p = .27). Activity measures were not associated with use or duration of VTE prophylaxis. VTE prophylaxis use does not appear to be directed by patient activity, for which there is limited documentation.

Duke Scholars

Author Juliessa Pavon Medicine, Geriatrics and Palliative Care

Author Carl F. Pieper Biostatistics & Bioinformatics, Division of Biostatistics

Author Cathleen Sellner Colon-Emeric Medicine, Geriatrics and Palliative Care

Author David Michael Gallagher Medicine, General Internal Medicine

Author Harvey Jay Cohen Medicine, Geriatrics and Palliative Care

Author Katherine Shepherd Hall Medicine, Geriatrics and Palliative Care

Author Miriam C. Morey Medicine, Geriatrics and Palliative Care

Author Thomas Lee Ortel Medicine, Hematology

Author Susan Nicole Hastings Medicine, Geriatrics and Palliative Care