A Survey on Awareness of Physical Therapists about Cardiopulmonary Physical Therapy = A Survey on Awareness of Physical Therapists about Cardiopulmonary Physical Therapy

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate awareness of physical therapists about cardiopulmonary physical therapy and patterns of its use, and to offer materials about how to apply cardiopulmonary physical therapy. Methods: For this study, structured questionnaires were distributed to 158 physical therapists in general hospitals, hospitals, Chinese medicine hospitals and clinics in Cheonnam area who were randomly selected as research subjects. After the questionnaires were handed out to them for 180 days from July to December 2013, they were collected. Results: The results showed that only 14 respondents (25%) knew about the therapeutic intervention of cardiopulmonary physical therapy, while respectively, 57.1% and 17.9% of them responded they didn`t know about it well, and they didn`t know about it, at all. As a result, physical therapists` awareness about cardiopulmonary physical therapy was at an extremely low level, overall. Moreover, 60.7%, 7.1%, 8.9% and 23.3% of the subjects answered that they obtained knowledge about cardiopulmonary physical therapy from school curriculum, from association seminars, from related books and from other sources, respectively. Conclusion: In conclusion, these results demonstrate that the application or use of cardiopulmonary physical therapy as a physical therapy intervention is quite inadequate, although the necessity for cardiopulmonary physical therapy of physical therapists is being highlighted. Therefore, constant interests and efforts of physical therapists and clinicians would be required for effective use of cardiopulmonary physical therapy, clinical verification and active researches on it.