Effect of a chest physical therapy nursing program on the occurrence of pulmonary complications among immobilized orthopaedic patients

This study was carried out to evaluate the effect of a chest physical therapy nursing program on the occurrence of pulmonary complications among immobilized orthopedic patients. The study was conducted in orthopedic department at Menoufiya University Hospital. The sample comprised 60 adult patients who were randomly assigned into two groups: study and control groups. An intervention program was developed based on reviewing the relevant literature. The study group was exposed to the designed chest physical therapy nursing program, while the control group received routine hospital care. Two tools were used for data collection. 1 Respiratory assessment sheet. 2 Dyspnea analogue Borg Scale. The results revealed that, the practice of breathing and coughing exercises of the study group improved significantly during second and third assessment as compared to the practice of the control group. In relation to dyspnea after first assessment the majority 83.3%, 93.3% of study and control groups had severe dyspnea, while in the second assessment 73.3% of the study group had no dyspnea, compared to 13.3% of the control group. In the third assessment the majority 93.3% of study group had no dyspnea compared to 26.7 of the control group. There is an obvious reduction in occurrence of chest infection among study group after second and third assessment compared to control group. Enrichment of patients with knowledge and skills about Chest physical therapy in addition to practicing breathing and coughing exercises seem to have a positive impact on prevention / reduction of pulmonary complications among immobilized orthopedic patients