Patient, family member and healthcare professionals’ experiences of physiotherapy airway clearance techniques during hospital admission: a scoping review
Kirsty Jerrard, Rhian Dowding, Brenda O'Neill, Judy M. Bradley, Bronwen Connolly · 2026
Read Patient, family member and healthcare professionals’ experiences of physiotherapy airway clearance techniques during hospital admission: a scoping review by Kirsty Jerrard, Rhian Dowding, Brenda O'Neill, Judy M. Bradley, Bronwen Connolly (2026) in the Tower of Babel, a free online library of public-domain works preserved in clean, searchable text. No sign-up. The full text is served as a plain-text file at a predictable URL, where text is present: https://antarctic-labs.com/tower-of-babel/pmc-13531308.txt.
Description
Kirsty Jerrard and four co-authors reviewed in 2026 what patients, families and staff experience during airway clearance therapy in hospital. These breathing treatments, mostly led by physiotherapists, help clear mucus when illness or critical care leaves secretions stuck. The team searched five databases for qualitative studies and screened over ten thousand records. Eleven studies qualified, most set in intensive care units.
The studies covered 293 health workers and 80 patients, but none included family members. Four themes emerged, covering knowledge and skills, choices made during care, felt effects, and workplace factors that only staff raised. The authors note the evidence leans heavily on physiotherapists in intensive care. They call for broader work that hears patients and families too. Such input could shape kinder, clearer treatment plans for people needing airway clearance.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Kirsty Jerrard, Rhian Dowding, Brenda O'Neill, Judy M. Bradley, Bronwen Connolly |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 56 KB |
| VERSION | 1.0 |
| LICENSE | CC BY 4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |