Physical Therapy in the Intensive Care Unit: A Comparative Study of Three Asian Countries

Study Overview
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Brief Summary
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This descriptive-comparative study has explored and presented an overview of the extent of PT practice in the ICU in JP, PH, and TW. Specifically, the socio-demographic and ICU-related profiles of physical therapists (PTs) in Japan (JP), Philippines (PH), and Taiwan (TW) were presented, with the inclusion of the common PT interventions and challenges encountered in delivering PT services in the ICU in the said countries. Included in the socio-demographic variables are the respondents' sex, age, highest educational attainment, PT work experience, and hospital affiliation. As to the ICU-related variables, it includes the respondents' ICU work experience, the types of ICU where respondents primarily work, the hiring department they belong to, the status of ICU posting, the duration of ICU posting, the daily ICU stay of the respondents, their engagement in on-call ICU PT services, the usual source of ICU patient referral, the number of daily ICU patients, the ratio of PT to ICU patients, and the level of participation in ICU-related PT training. Furthermore, different interventions that are commonly implemented and challenges that are commonly encountered in ICU PT service delivery in Japan, Philippines, and Taiwan were also investigated.

Detailed Description
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Physical therapy (PT) is proven beneficial among critically ill patients. However, there is an extent to the practice of PT in the intensive care unit (ICU) which differs between countries. With this, the extent of PT practice in the ICU in three Asian countries, namely Japan (JP), Philippines (PH), and Taiwan (TW), was determined and compared by specifically determining the socio-demographic and ICU-related profile of physical therapists (PTs) who have worked in the ICU.

Official Title
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Physical Therapy in the Intensive Care Unit: A Comparative Study of Three Asian Countries

Conditions
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ICU

Participation Criteria
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Eligibility Criteria
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Inclusion Criteria: Physical therapists who: are currently residing or working in Japan, Philippines, and Taiwan; are working, or have worked in an ICU in JP, PH, or TW, and have provided PT services to critically ill patients regardless of age, sex, nationality/race, and years of work experience (in general); have an active e-mail address; and provided informed consent Exclusion Criteria: Physical therapists who are: newly hired (or rotated) PTs with ICU duty but have not yet handled any ICU patient; and licensed PTs from JP, PH, and TW but are based and/or are working abroad.
Sexes Eligible for Study
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All

Accepts Healthy Volunteers
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Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Study Plan
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How is the study designed?
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Arms and Interventions

| Participant Group/Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
| --- | --- |
| Japan<br>A group of ICU physical therapists working in Japan. | |
| Philippines<br>A group of ICU physical therapists working in the Philippines. | |
| Taiwan<br>A group of ICU physical therapists working in Taiwan. | |

What is the study measuring?
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Primary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Sex | Asked in the form of MCQ | November 6, 2021 to February 18, 2022 | 
| Highest educational attainment | PhD, Master, diploma | November 6 2021, to February 18, 2022 | 
| Work experience | Asked in the form of MCQ (by age range) | November 6 2021, to February 18, 2022 | 
| Hospital affiliation | Asked in the form of MCQ (with sub-classification: level, ownership, teaching affiliation) | November 6 2021, to February 18, 2022 | 
| ICU work experience | Asked in the form of MCQ (in range) | November 6 2021, to February 18, 2022 | 
| Type of ICU | Multiple answer question | November 6 2021, to February 18, 2022 | 
| Hiring department | Asked in the form of MCQ | November 6 2021, to February 18, 2022 | 
| Status of ICU posting | Asked in the form of MCQ | November 6 2021, to February 18, 2022 | 
| Duration of ICU posting | Asked in the form of MCQ (by time range) | November 6 2021, to February 18, 2022 | 
| ICU stay per day | Asked in the form of MCQ (by time range) | November 6 2021, to February 18, 2022 | 
| Engagement in on-call ICU PT service | Asked in the form of a dichotomous question | November 6 2021, to February 18, 2022 | 
| ICU PTs in the hospital | Asked via short answer question | November 6 2021, to February 18, 2022 | 
| Source of ICU patient referral | Asked in the form of MCQ | November 6 2021, to February 18, 2022 | 
| Number of ICU patients per day | Asked in the form of MCQ (by range) | November 6 2021, to February 18, 2022 | 
| PT-patient ratio | Asked in the form of MCQ | November 6 2021, to February 18, 2022 | 
| Participation in ICU-related PT trainin | Asked in the form of dichotomus, MCQ, and multiple answer question | November 6 2021, to February 18, 2022 | 
| Most common PT techniques implemented in the ICU | Multiple answer question | November 6 2021, to February 18, 2022 | 
| Challenges encountered in the delivery of PT services in the ICU | Multiple answer question | November 6 2021, to February 18, 2022 | 

 Terms related to the study
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Keywords Provided by Centre Hospitalier Valida
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Physiotherapy, Intensive care unit, ICU physical therapy