title: Practice patterns of canadian physiotherapists mobilizing patients with external ventricular drains.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To describe current mobilization practices of Canadian physiotherapists when treating patients with external ventricular drains (EVDs).
  
  
  METHODS
  A quantitative, descriptive, cross-sectional study design using an online questionnaire via SurveyMonkey. An email invitation and questionnaire link was distributed in March 2010 to physiotherapists currently working with this patient population in Neurosurgical Centres across Canada.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Respondents were 25 physiotherapists (21 full-time, 2 part-time, and 2 who did not disclose work status) working in 5 different provinces who treated ≥1 patient/month with an EVD (n=9). Slightly more than half of respondents had ≤10 years' clinical physiotherapy experience (n=14); the remainder had >10 years' experience (n=11). The majority of respondents indicated that they felt comfortable mobilizing patients with EVDs (n =19) and that it was safe to do so (n=20). Clinical experience (n=23) and safety concerns (n=25) were most commonly cited as guiding practice. More experienced physiotherapists were more likely to use out-of-bed mobilization practices. Regardless of experience, the majority of physiotherapists (20/25) ranked intracranial pressure (ICP) as the most important factor and saturation of oxygen (Spo2) as the least important factor to consider before mobilization.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Canadian physiotherapists are mobilizing patients with EVDs, and the intensity level of their mobilization practices appears to be related to their experience level. Data from the current study may be used in developing future best-practice guidelines for the mobilization of patients with EVDs.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Therapy, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto.
authors.forename: Chelsea
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Hale
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Therapy, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto.
authors.forename: Kyle
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Wong
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Therapy, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto.
authors.forename: Amanda
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pennings
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Therapy, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto.
authors.forename: Amanda
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rnic
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Therapy, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto.
authors.forename: Benjamin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Tobali
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Therapy, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto ; Toronto Western Hospital.
authors.forename: Christopher
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Hawke
authors.affiliation: Toronto Western Hospital.
authors.forename: Jean
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Brown
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Therapy, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto.
authors.forename: Cheryl
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cott
authors.affiliation: University Health Network, Toronto.
authors.forename: Carol
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Heck
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Therapy, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto ; Toronto Western Hospital.
authors.forename: Catharine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Duncan
keywords: clinical experience; clinical reasoning; external ventricular drain; mobilization