Roles of Physical Therapists in Respiratory Medicine Department —Present Status and Future Problems

Chest physical therapy plays an essential role in respiratory care. Since April, 1993, two physical therapists have regularly been assigned in the Department of Respiratory Medicine of our hospital to respiratory care. They are expected to participate in the total care of patients in collaboration with nurses by performing chest physical therapy. Although some problems are to be solved, the benefits of chest physical therapy that have been obtained are the improvement in quality and duration of the therapy. To be concrete, chest physical therapy can intensively be performed on patients with acute respiratory disease, and well-controlled physical therapy service can be extended to patients with chronic respiratory disease both to hospital and at home treatments.