Testing the effectiveness of the Amputee Mobility Protocol: a pilot study.

We studied prolonged length of stay (LOS) in the acute care setting on a medical-surgical vascular unit, related to loss of functional mobility status after lower extremity amputation, and implementation of the Amputee Mobility Protocol (AMP) as a standard of care for all patients pre- and post-lower extremity amputation who were admitted to the medical-surgical vascular unit. A comparative pre-post observational study evaluated the effect of AMP on level of functional mobility and LOS after lower extremity amputation in the patient population on the medical-surgical vascular unit. Data was collected retrospectively from patient chart reviews from November of 2004 to March of 2005 for the pre-AMP group and through concurrent patient chart reviews from November of 2005 to March of 2006 for the post-AMP group.

Orienting nurses to a vascular nursing specialty.

The complexity of medical and nursing care for our patients has become more specialized, requiring nurses to deliver care with greater understanding of specialty-specific disease processes. Although this paradigm shift has occurred, accredited nursing programs continue to prepare our nursing workforce as generalists. Therefore the responsibility falls onto the shoulders of the employer to prepare the nurse to care for specialty-specific populations soon after accepting a position on a specialty-specific unit.