End PJ paralysis campaign

Summary

#EndPJparalysis has become a global movement embraced by nurses, therapists and medical colleagues. Its aim: to value patients’ time and help more people to live the richest, fullest lives possible by reducing immobility, muscle deconditioning, and dependency at the same time as protecting cognitive function, social interaction and dignity.

Many of the people we care for are in their last 1000 days and they are the very people who do not have time to waste. Yet they are the people who are most likely to get stuck in our hospital systems due to their complex health and social needs.

There is plenty of evidence that immobility in hospital leads to deconditioning, loss of functional ability and cognitive impairment, all of which have the potential to increase a patient’s length of stay, using up their valuable time. One of the major impacts of the #EndPJparalysis campaign has been the focus on both the individual and the organisational impact of ‘staying in bed’.