p-ISSN:2226-9215 e-ISSN:2410-888X 47 JRCRS 2023 Vol 11 No 1 Awareness about Respiratory Therapy and Prone Positioning Among Physiotherapists and Their Treatment Approaches for Covid-19 Pneumonia Patients Noureen Fatima 1 , Qudsia Intizar 2 , Neha Mehtab 3 , Sundar Allana 4 1 Lecturer Physiotherapist Liaquat national school of Physiotherapy, Karachi. 2-4 Physiotherapist Liaquat national school of Physiotherapy Karachi Author`s Contribution 1-3 Conception and design, Collection and assembly of data, 2-4 Analysis and interpretation of the data, 3-2 Critical revision of the article for important intellectual content, 1-3 Statistical expertise, 1 Final approval and guarantor of the article. Article Info. Received: May 10, 2022 Acceptance: October 4, 2022 Conflict of Interest: None Funding Sources: None Address of Correspondence Noureen Fatima noureen.amjad@outlook.com ORCID: 0000-0002-8593-7817 Cite this article as: Fatima N, Intizar Q, Mehtab N, Allana S. Awareness about Respiratory Therapy and Prone Positioning Among Physiotherapists and Their Treatment Approaches for Covid-19 Pneumonia Patients. JRCRS.2023;11(1):47-51. DOI: 10.53389/JRCRS.2023110110 A B S T R A C T Objective: To find out the knowledge of physiotherapists about prone positioning and different respiratory therapy approaches and their application in patients with COVID-19 pneumonia infection. Methodology: A Cross-sectional study was carried out with 104 physiotherapists from Karachi, Pakistan and the data was collected from August to October 2021. Only those physiotherapists included in the survey who were working in the COVID-19 intensive care unit. Due to the non-availability of the standard questionnaire, a pilot study was conducted before data collection with 6 physiotherapists who had more than 10 years of experience to check the validity of the questionnaire.; a self-designed questionnaire was structured. After that, an online survey was conducted. The data was analyzed by IBM SPSS version 21. Results: With regards to ventilated patients, 100 (96%) physiotherapists were aware of prone positioning, 94 (90.4%) were familiar with percussion & vibration whereas only 20 (19.2%) were aware of ultra-shortwave therapy. The analysis of the treatment approaches favored by therapists showed that the frequently applied techniques were prone position 94 (90%) and percussions and vibrations 94 (90.4%) in the ventilated patients. In post- extubated patients, physiotherapists were aware of the application of breathing exercise 101 (97%) & incentive Spirometry 100 (96.2%). Conclusion: It has been concluded that during the pandemic physiotherapist were aware of prone positioning and other respiratory therapy techniques like percussions and spirometry and applied them frequently. Further research is needed for determining what is best practice for this infected population. Keywords: COVID-19, Respiratory Therapy, prone position, physical therapist, pneumonia Introduction COVID-19 had been a terrible pandemic that caused a significant fatality rate daily all across the planet. This lethal COVID-19 has transformed the proportions of the globe, and the issues that the world is confronting are numerous and diverse. COVID-19 is an infectious illness caused by the coronavirus, which is a crown-like enveloped non-segmented positive sense RNA virus that belongs to the huge Corona viridae family. 1, 2, 3 On March 12, 2020, the World Health Organization labeled it a pandemic. 1 It was initially recorded in December 2019 in the Chinese province of Wuhan. 2 The first incidence of this was reported to WHO in Pakistan in February 2020. COVID-19 virus can be spread by direct touch as well as aerosol particles created when coughing or sneezing. 4, 5, 6 The gold standard for early identification of the COVID-19 virus is RT-PCR (real-time polymerase chain reaction), which detects the virus on respiratory samples. 7, 8 Fever, dry persistent cough, sore throat, shortness of breath, dyspnea, headache, weariness, and myalgia are the most prevalent symptoms of the condition. 9, 10 The most frequent COVID-19 problems in critically sick patients include pneumonia, ARDS, sepsis, septic shock, thrombosis, and multiple organ failure. 7 Physiotherapy, in parallel to pharmaceutical treatment, is critical in the management of COVID-19, and their combined action leads to faster recovery with better outcomes. 2 It is thought that pneumonia and ORIGINAL ARTICLE