Pneumonia kills annually about 2 millions of children aged less than 5
years to be the main cause of death at this age group. Pneumonia is treated by antibiotics,
oxygen and techniques for releasing secretions as Chest Physical Therapy (CPT). For
children, CPT includes essentially postural drainage, percussion and vibration.
This study aimed to study effect of chest physical therapy on respiratory
status among children with pneumonia.
The aim of this study was to assess the effect of physiotherapy on ventilator weaning and lengths of intensive care unit (ICU) stay. Patients were divided into two groups. The control group, which received standard nursing care. The data of control p
atients who were not receiving physiotherapy were obtained from the hospital records. The intervention group was prospectively taken into the chest physiotherapy program. This study was conducted on sample of 30 patients in the ICU in alaassad university hospital. Demographics, diagnostic profiles, co-existing chronic diseases, respiratory parameters on admission, patient’s overall severity by Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II score, patient outcome, duration of stay in ICU, duration of ventilator support, and complications were assessed. The extubation time and length of ICU stay were compared between the two groups. Control patients had a longer period of ventilator dependency than the intervention patients and this difference was statistically significant (P < 0.05). It was noted that the resulting length of stay in the ICU was significantly lower in the intervention group than in the control group (P < 0.05). Although the patients had similar diagnoses and physical features, the length of stay in the ICU was significantly lower in the intervention group. The results show that physiotherapy has a great impact on ventilatory dependency and length of stay in the ICU
