Cardiorespiratory Physiotherapy around the Clock: Experience at a University Hospital

<b><i>Purpose:</i></b> To document and describe the use of a hospital-wide, 24-hour cardiorespiratory physiotherapy service run by an intensive care unit (ICU) team of physiotherapists. <b><i>Methods:</i></b> We prospectively collected data on all non-ICU hospital patients who used the 24-hours-per-day cardiorespiratory physiotherapy service over a 1-year period between July 2013 and June 2014. The ICU physiotherapists documented the reason, origin of referral, time of call, and type and frequency of treatment of each patient. <b><i>Results:</i></b> Over the 1-year period, the ICU physiotherapists administered 2,192 out-of-hours cardiorespiratory physiotherapy treatments (<i>n</i>=685 patients) outside the ICU. Most referrals originated from the emergency department (25%), the cardiopulmonary transplant unit (20%), and the pulmonology department (16%). Referrals were from a physiotherapist in 49% of cases, from a nurse in 32%, and from a physician in 19%. Of these, 89% were made between 4:00 p.m. and 8:00 a.m., and sputum retention was the most frequent reason (86%). <b><i>Conclusion:</i></b> Although proving its cost effectiveness is difficult, organizing a 24-hours-per-day, 7-days-per-week cardiorespiratory physiotherapy service in a large hospital is feasible.