Clinical trial NCT05600478: Physical Therapy in the Intensive Care Unit: A Comparative Study of Three Asian Countries
Official title: Physical Therapy in the Intensive Care Unit: A Comparative Study of Three Asian Countries
Study type: OBSERVATIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Conditions: ICU
Keywords: Physiotherapy
Intensive care unit
ICU physical therapy
Lead sponsor: China Medical University Hospital
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: China Medical University, Taiwan
name: Mariano Marcos State University
name: Juntendo University
First posted: 2022-10-31
Enrollment: 164
Sex: ALL
Standard ages: CHILD
ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Observational model: COHORT
Time perspective: CROSS_SECTIONAL
Sampling method: NON_PROBABILITY_SAMPLE
Study population: The study included physical therapists who are based in Japan, Philippines, and Taiwan

Brief summary: 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: 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.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* Physical therapists who:

  1. are currently residing or working in Japan, Philippines, and Taiwan;
  2. 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);
  3. have an active e-mail address; and
  4. provided informed consent

Exclusion Criteria:

* Physical therapists who are:

  1. newly hired (or rotated) PTs with ICU duty but have not yet handled any ICU patient; and
  2. licensed PTs from JP, PH, and TW but are based and/or are working abroad.

Primary outcomes:
measure: Sex
timeFrame: November 6, 2021 to February 18, 2022
measure: Highest educational attainment
timeFrame: November 6 2021, to February 18, 2022
measure: Work experience
timeFrame: November 6 2021, to February 18, 2022
measure: Hospital affiliation
timeFrame: November 6 2021, to February 18, 2022
measure: ICU work experience
timeFrame: November 6 2021, to February 18, 2022
measure: Type of ICU
timeFrame: November 6 2021, to February 18, 2022
measure: Hiring department
timeFrame: November 6 2021, to February 18, 2022
measure: Status of ICU posting
timeFrame: November 6 2021, to February 18, 2022
measure: Duration of ICU posting
timeFrame: November 6 2021, to February 18, 2022
measure: ICU stay per day
timeFrame: November 6 2021, to February 18, 2022
measure: Engagement in on-call ICU PT service
timeFrame: November 6 2021, to February 18, 2022
measure: ICU PTs in the hospital
timeFrame: November 6 2021, to February 18, 2022
measure: Source of ICU patient referral
timeFrame: November 6 2021, to February 18, 2022
measure: Number of ICU patients per day
timeFrame: November 6 2021, to February 18, 2022
measure: PT-patient ratio
timeFrame: November 6 2021, to February 18, 2022
measure: Participation in ICU-related PT trainin
timeFrame: November 6 2021, to February 18, 2022
measure: Most common PT techniques implemented in the ICU
timeFrame: November 6 2021, to February 18, 2022
measure: Challenges encountered in the delivery of PT services in the ICU
timeFrame: November 6 2021, to February 18, 2022
Secondary outcomes:
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Taichung City
country: Taiwan
facility: China Medical University
state: Taichung
Study officials:
affiliation: China Medical University, Taiwan
name: Yu-Jung Cheng, PhD in BMS
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References:
citation: Sigera PC, Tunpattu TM, Jayashantha TP, De Silva AP, Athapattu PL, Dondorp A, Haniffa R. National Profile of Physical Therapists in Critical Care Units of Sri Lanka: Lower Middle-Income Country. Phys Ther. 2016 Jul;96(7):933-9. doi: 10.2522/ptj.20150363. Epub 2016 Feb 18.