Physical and Functional Recovery From Cardiac Surgery in Hospitalized Patients: A Feasibility Pilot Study

The investigators will perform a prospective randomized controlled trial at Baystate Medical Center, a 684-bed academic teaching hospital that serves as the referral center for a population of approximately 800,000 people living in Western Massachusetts. The responsibility of the ambulation orderly is to walk patients after having a cardiac surgery, such as a coronary artery bypass surgery or a valve replacement or repair. Patients will be randomized to receive visits from the ambulation orderly (ambulation group) or to receive the standard care of Baystate Medical Center (control group). The standard of care will be nurse-directed ambulation, as is currently done in all other nursing floors at Baystate Medical Center. Nurses will be instructed to walk with the patients as they did before the initiation of the ambulation orderly and as they do when the orderly is on vacation, at conferences, training, or away for illness.