ABSTRACT

Background: Home respiratory therapy is a very important therapeutic measure for cystic fibrosis patient. Objectives: To investigate which of the home respiratory therapy maneuvers are most commonly employed, their features, where and how they were learned, and the skillfulness of relatives to apply them. Methods: A questionnaire and a practical examination were applied to relatives or individuals responsible of the home respiratory therapy of 16 cystic fibrosis patients attending the outpatient service of the Hospital de Pediatría, IMSS. Results: Patients were 8.6 ± 1.3 years old (x – ±177 DE) and 7 were females. Most of them received aerosoltherapy (100%), chest percussion (81%) and postural drainage (63%), while flutter (31%), respiratory exercises (25%), humidification (13%), cough stimulation (13%) and chest vibration (13%) were much less frequently applied. In general, they received 2.2 ± 0.7 sessions of some of these maneuvers in a day, during 12.9 ± 8.9 min each. In 12 cases, relatives received the initial training on respiratory therapy in a single session of about 30 min duration, which occurred between 1 and 15 years ago (median 4.3 years), and 67% of all techniques never were subsequently supervised. The practical examination showed a global result of 7.2, from a maximum possible of 10. Conclusion: Our results suggest that the quality of the home respiratory therapy is not optimal, indicating the need to improve the periodic education that relatives of cystic fibrosis patients must receive.

KEYWORDS

Respiratory therapy, physiotherapy, aerosoltherapy, chest percussion, postural drainage, cystic fibrosis, mucoviscidosis.

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