TY - JOUR T1 - Standardised education and training for respiratory physiotherapists JF - Breathe JO - breathe SP - 171 LP - 174 DO - 10.1183/20734735.001013 VL - 9 IS - 3 AU - Sharon Mitchell AU - Fabio Pitta AU - Thierry Troosters Y1 - 2013/03/01 UR - http://breathe.ersjournals.com/content/9/3/171.abstract N2 - The mission of ERS is to alleviate suffering from respiratory disease and to promote lung health through research, sharing of knowledge and through medical and public education. Within this context, respiratory physiotherapy plays a fundamental role in improving ventilation, and enhancing quality of life [1] for patients with respiratory disease. Physiotherapists work with patients in a variety of settings including patients' homes, pulmonary rehabilitation programmes, wards and intensive care units. Although physiotherapy is globally recognised within the healthcare profession, some respiratory physiotherapy techniques have been clouded by a lack of scientific evidence [2] and insufficient clinical data [3] on the benefits of specific techniques in the treatment of patients suffering from respiratory disease. In recent decades, evidence (or absence thereof) has been emerging for many techniques related to exercise training, mucus transport and breathing retraining strategies. The field is rapidly evolving. In 1995 a specific group involving respiratory physiotherapists was established. This active group exists under the European Respiratory Society assembly for allied health professionals (ERS group 9.02), and gathers annually during the ERS Annual Congress, keeping an open channel of communication with physiotherapists throughout the year.Stiller [3] reported that while “some physiotherapists routinely treat most if not all ICU patients with a combination of techniques, […] other physiotherapists use such techniques selectively when they believe they are specifically indicated”, thereby highlighting the differences in treatment of patients by respiratory physiotherapists just over a decade ago. In 2009, Bott et al. [2] published guidelines with the distinct purpose of producing evidence-based recommendations for practice. In recent years, great strides have been taken in research of respiratory physiotherapy to accumulate and report on the supporting rationale and effectiveness of respiratory physiotherapy techniques and combinations of techniques used in … ER -