A rising number of older adults are admitted to acute care hospitals due to the increasing proportion of people aged 65 years and older in the general population [
1]. Increased hospital admission has been accompanied by an increase in hospital-acquired disabilities in older adults related to a lack of mobilization [
2‐
7]. Despite evidence that bed rest contributes to functional decline, older hospitalized patients spend a median of 4% of their day out of bed [
8,
9]. Bed rest can result in deconditioning with loss of muscle strength, delirium, decubitus ulcers, venous thrombosis, pneumonia, increased length of stay (LOS), and admission to a nursing home [
4‐
6,
10‐
13].
Early mobilization interventions may improve patients’ functional status, LOS, likelihood of returning home, and satisfaction [
14‐
18]. Early mobilization interventions have largely been studied among patients with specific conditions, but effects are less clear when applied to any older patient in the hospital. Moreover, these studies do not provide sufficient information on how to operationalize and tailor the intervention at individual, unit, and organizational levels [
19‐
23], making it difficult to replicate and scale up the intervention. In 2012, we developed, implemented, and evaluated an evidence-informed program to promote early mobilization in patients 65 years of age and older admitted to internal medicine units [
24,
25]. We evaluated the intervention using an interrupted time series (ITS) design across 14 hospitals in Ontario, Canada. Results showed a significant increase in median weekly observed mobilization [10.56% (95% confidence interval [CI] 4.94–16.18,
P-value < 0.001)] and a decreased LOS (3.45 days) over the study period [
25]. It was unclear whether the intervention would be effective if tailored to other inpatient units. Results of a replication study would provide strong evidence that the intervention can be spread or scaled up to other inpatient units. Available literature highlights the lack of replication studies in health care, with resultant concerns about the limited research findings until replication of findings is achieved [
26‐
28]. Similarly, there has been a lack of studies focused on scaling up interventions [
29,
30]. As such, this study was developed to address these challenges. Specifically, the aim of the current study was to tailor, implement, and evaluate the effect of the early mobilization program on surgery, psychiatry, medicine, and cardiology inpatient units to determine if the study could be replicated across different settings.