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

Completed

• Conditions: ICU

• Registration Number: NCT05600478
• Lead Sponsor: China Medical University Hospital

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.

Study Timeline

• Study Start: 2021-11-06
• Primary Completion: 2022-02-18
• Study Completion: 2022-02-18
• Study First Submitted: 2022-07-31
• Status Verified: 2022-10
• Study First Submitted QC: 2022-10-26
• Last Update Submitted: 2022-10-26
• Study First Posted: 2022-10-31
• Last Update Posted: 2022-10-31

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: COMPLETED
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 164

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.

Study & Design

• Study Type: OBSERVATIONAL
• Study Design: Not specified

Primary Outcome Measures

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

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

China Medical University; 🇨🇳 Taichung City, Taichung, Taiwan