1,394
Views
32
CrossRef citations to date
0
Altmetric
Article

Clinically useful outcome measures for physiotherapy airway clearance techniques: a review

Pages 299-307 | Published online: 20 Feb 2014
 

Abstract

A lack of good outcome measures has been a barrier to the development of an evidence base for all areas of respiratory physiotherapy. Many of the clinically available outcome measures are not specifically related to the physiotherapy intervention employed and may be affected by other factors. In this paper, the outcome measures currently clinically available to UK NHS physiotherapists to assess the response to alveolar recruitment and airway clearance interventions have been reviewed. It is clear that there is an urgent need to increase the accuracy, reliability, and sensitivity of the outcome measures employed, or to develop new measures to assess the effectiveness of respiratory physiotherapy. Lung sounds provide useful, specific information, but standard auscultation is too subjective to allow them to be used as an outcome measure. Computer Aided Lung Sound Analysis (CALSA) is proposed as a new objective, non-invasive, bedside clinical measure with the potential to monitor and assess the effects of airway clearance therapy.

Reprints and Corporate Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

To request a reprint or corporate permissions for this article, please click on the relevant link below:

Academic Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

Obtain permissions instantly via Rightslink by clicking on the button below:

If you are unable to obtain permissions via Rightslink, please complete and submit this Permissions form. For more information, please visit our Permissions help page.