Abstract
In our hospital about one hundred patients with chronic pulmonary disease need to be served with chest physical therapy. To surmount the difficulties caused by a lack of staff, place and time, we conducted pulmonary rehabilitation classes as group training of chest physical therapy beginning in July, 1985. Classes were held about once a month, and until September, 1987, 20 classes were held. We assessed this trial particularly on the basis of effectiveness, drawbacks and room for improvement. In this trial, patients' confidence in professional staff (doctors and nurses) became stronger and patients came to take advice by staff members more readily. Overburden of the staff may require closing of the classes unless professional physical therapists can be employed to continue them. In these classes we were unable to teach patients individiually and in detail. Although the number of patients with chronic pulmonary disease increased in our hospital, the number of hospital admittance as emergencies decreased.
