Physiotherapists
We have 4 Physiotherapists who provide a 7 day service, working from 7am-7pm Monday to Friday and 8am-4pm Saturday and Sunday. (They also cover some of the wards so may not always be present on the unit). During the night there is an on call physiotherapist for the hospital who will review any patients who deteriorate from a respiratory (breathing) perspective.
The physiotherapist’s main roles are:
Early assessment and identification of any risk factors for respiratory (breathing) or rehabilitation needs.
Respiratory treatment:
Rehabilitation:
Please talk with your physiotherapists if you have any questions about your relatives treatment or would like to help/be included in exercise programs. Please also talk to the staff about hobbies or interests that your relatives have so these can be considered when planning activities and setting goals.
The physiotherapist’s main roles are:
Early assessment and identification of any risk factors for respiratory (breathing) or rehabilitation needs.
Respiratory treatment:
- This may consist of techniques to help maintain good lung function or improve the patients lung volumes, remove secretions (phlegm) or help reduce the effort of breathing where this is particularly high.
- They may use different techniques including positioning, education, breathing exercises, manual techniques (such as shaking or tapping on the chest), suctioning (using a small tube into the lungs to suck secretions out) and sometimes the use of machines to help with taking deeper breaths and coughing.
- They may also work with the rest of the team to help in the process of weaning the patient from the ventilator (breathing machine)
Rehabilitation:
- Patients on ICU can become weak very quickly, losing up to 2% of muscle daily. They can also experience joint stiffness, muscle tightness and reduced fitness; this can lead to long term disability. Physiotherapists’ play a vital role in maintaining and improving muscle strength and joint movement.
- Treatment may include: passive stretches or splinting, education and exercise programs, Motomed (a bike that can be used in bed to either passively move the legs, or which patients can actively cycle on), progressive movement: sitting, standing and walking practice.
Please talk with your physiotherapists if you have any questions about your relatives treatment or would like to help/be included in exercise programs. Please also talk to the staff about hobbies or interests that your relatives have so these can be considered when planning activities and setting goals.
Susan Calvert
Team Lead Physiotherapist
There is some more information about physiotherapy and recovery from intensive care published by 'ICU Steps' and is available for download here