Expand your respiratory assessment- blending evidence and experience with a clinical reasoning focus

Relevance to Physiotherapy:

Physiotherapists develop and provide programs to optimize physical function and overall quality of life for people with many illnesses and injuries. Central to any exercise program is the ability to breath effectively. While the prime focus of this presentation is adult acute care medical and surgical populations, the skill sets discussed have a wider application to many physiotherapy settings.

Learning Objectives:

• 1. distinguish between a medical and physiotherapy approach to a respiratory assessment,
• 2. complete a basic assessment of the respiratory system for acute medical and surgical patients,
• 3.  identify some specific physical mechanisms that are amenable to physiotherapy intervention;             
• 4. provide a rationale and generate a physiotherapy program that is more individualized;
• 5. discuss the evidence for various assessment tools including risk stratification tools, and some outcome measures  to track change for progressing interventions
• 6. link assessment

Speaker's Biography:

Judy Kay

Judy Kay is the Clinical Practice Leader for Cardio-respiratory at St. Clare’s Site of Eastern Health in St. John’s and has been an Adjunct Clinical Associate with Dalhousie University School of Physiotherapy. Judy graduated from Queen’s University, Kingston, ON and has been presenting respiratory assessment and management courses provincially since 1999 and nationally since 2009. As a member of the Cardio respiratory Division of CPA, she has ongoing involvement with national cardio respiratory issues, including participation with the Specialization pilot project of CPA in 2010 and achieved the Clinical Specialist designation for Cardiorespiratory in 2012- 1 of the first 3 PTs in Canada to successfully completed the program for this area. In Dec. 2016 was an invited participant to the national CR strategic planning day. Her last time presenting at CPA congress was in Montreal in 2018: Physiotherapy management of MRSA pneumonia sepsis in the ICU- the evolution of a multimodal intervention program