Chest Physiotherapy Techniques Used in Neonatal & Paediatric Intensive Care Units in Punjab

The purpose of this study was to observe the common chest physiotherapy techniques (CPT) used by physiotherapists in Neonatal and Paediatric Intensive Care Units (NICU &PICU) in the hospitals located in Punjab. The design of the study was exploratory cross sectional survey. Data was collected with the help of standardised questionnaire, which was sent to one hundred thirty therapists who worked in thirty eight different hospitals in Punjab and these hospitals have claimed physiotherapy facilities in their NICU and PICU premises. A period of two weeks was given to the therapists for the completion of questionnaire. If the therapists were not able to send the filled questionnaire within two weeks, then a reminder call was given to them for the next two consecutive weeks. It was found that only eighty-four (i.e. 64.61%) completed questionnaires was received from the twenty five hospitals. It was concluded that percussion, vibration, suctioning, positioning, breathing exercises of CPT techniques were commonly practised in both PICU and NICU.