University Name: Cardiopulmonary Physical Therapy Assignment Report

This report examines cardiopulmonary physical therapy practices within pediatric intensive care units, focusing on the study by McCord et al. (2013). The report highlights the significance of physical therapy in managing cardiopulmonary diseases across various age groups, including children. It delves into the application of physical therapy in intensive care units to improve patient outcomes through techniques like manual hyperinflation and expiratory vibrations. The study's methodology, conducted at a hospital in Toronto, Canada, involving trained physiotherapists, nurses, and respiratory therapists, is also discussed. The report emphasizes the role of physical therapy in secretion clearance, preventing mechanical ventilation, and enhancing oxygenation, ultimately minimizing the adverse effects of prolonged bed rest. The analysis underscores the importance of clinically relevant studies in evaluating the effectiveness and efficiency of these techniques, especially given the variability in patient demographics and the complexity of implementing multiple cardiopulmonary techniques simultaneously.

Running head: CARDIOPULMONARY PHYSICAL THERAPY
CARDIOPULMONARY PHYSICAL THERAPY
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author’s name

1CARDIOPULMONARY PHYSICAL THERAPY
Cardiopulmonary diseases have shown their prevalence in people with all age groups
including children, as well as the older aged population. The clinical speciality on
Cardiopulmonary physical therapy was first recognized in 1978 and has been found to be
effective in the treatment of cardiovascular diseases since these disorders restricts the
cardiovascular system of human body from performing its primary function which is delivering
oxygen to the active tissues. With the help of physical therapy cardiovascular diseases can be
prevented and managed in patients with both primary as well as secondary diagnoses concerning
cardiopulmonary system. Physical therapy is provided to the patients suffering from chronic
conditions like Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), post myocardial infarction
(MI) and cystic fibrosis. The therapy is provided by using physical modalities for treating
patients and involves techniques for clearing the infected mucus from the chest of the affected
person or using non-invasive ventilation to assist an individual to breathe and also involves
prescribing or recommending exercises to improve the exercise capacity of the patient.
Cardiopulmonary physical therapy has also found to be employed in the intensive care units in
order to enable secretion clearance, prevent mechanical ventilation, and improve the rate of
oxygenation of these patients and to minimalize the effects of longer stay at bed (McCord et al.,
2013). The article by McCord et al., 2013, was designed to determine the existing
cardiopulmonary physical therapy practices in a cardiopulmonary paediatric critical care unit and
paediatric intensive care unit. The study mainly described the implications of cardiopulmonary
physical therapy in the intensive care units and shows that a manual hyperinflation with
expiratory vibrations are considered to be a preferred treatment for children who are critically ill
(McCord et al., 2013). The study was set in an acute tertiary paediatric care, a hospital for sick
children in Toronto, Canada. Cardiopulmonary therapy was performed in the Pediatric intensive

2CARDIOPULMONARY PHYSICAL THERAPY
unit and in the critical care unit with the help of trained physiotherapists and in the presence of
nurses and other respiratory therapists who assisted them during the course of the treatment. The
therapists provided suctioning between the therapy sessions and the nurses had the responsibility
of assisting the patients with changing positions as recommended and suggested by the physical
therapist. The study could successfully determine the effectiveness and efficiency of these
techniques that are mostly used in the clinical settings by focusing on the nature of the patients
recommended with cardiopulmonary therapy (McCord et al., 2013).

3CARDIOPULMONARY PHYSICAL THERAPY
References:
McCord, J., Krull, N., Kraiker, J., Ryan, R., Duczeminski, E., Hassall, A., ...&Mathur, S. (2013).
Cardiopulmonary physical therapy practice in the paediatric intensive care unit.
Physiotherapy Canada, 65(4), 374-377. doi: 10.3138/ptc.2012-43