Talking All Things Cardiopulm

In this episode, Dr. Burriesci describes the 4 phases of a cough, ways to assess cough sequencing, and how to implement proper cough techniques into our physical therapy practice to improve overall aerobic conditioning.  She guides us through different diagnoses which may impact cough mechanics and how to tailor it for the patient’s needs. These clinical pearls will have your patients implementing...

You could brush your teeth for 28 minutes every Sunday, but would you? It may be more efficient to perform this task in one sitting, but rather we do it every day to continue the cycle of taking care of ourselves. It’s a daily task that has compounding benefits to our overall well-being and health. This same ideology can be applied to nervous system hygiene, keeping our nervous system healthy on a...

Come in!!  Rachele is taking us behind the scenes of what it’s like to set-up for sauce (marinara) day. She tells us the adventures of finding a tomato vendor, long hours and walls covered in sauce to make her family’s recipe. She explains the importance of digging through the rotten tomatoes to find the best ones. When you want an outcome, you have to lean into the process.   In this episode, Dr....

The world around us never settles down and while we understand it to be commonplace, our bodies can sense the rising stress. This impacts our breathing and is known to increase respiratory rate. This increase with rate can also increase the upper chest breathing, making us (and our patients!) be less efficient breathers. So what can we as physical therapists do? Teach our patients how to adequatel...

A, B, C, oh wait, ABG? In this episode, Dr. Burriesci hosts Briana Drapp of PT Elevation and teaches the ABC’s of Arterial Blood Gases (ABG’s). Dr. Burriesci explains what PaO2, PaCO2, HCO3 and SaO2 means, why we should care and how to extrapolate the information of each of these numbers into real world, clinical information to benefit our patients. She breaks down the numbers into metabolic vs pu...

Peripheral Artery Disease (PAD) is a diagnosis that very much resembles coronary artery disease, except the pain occurs in the legs instead of the chest. Treating these patients can be tricky due to the activity limitations they experience.  So how can we make a difference in clinic?   In this episode, Dr. Burriesci breaks down what PAD is. She explains the risk factors, pathophysiology and how ph...

Have you ever wondered why exercising in the heat feels so much harder? This week on Talking All Things Cardiopulm, we're going to tackle this burning question.  With rising temperatures and high humidity, it’s important to understand the body’s response, in order to make informed decisions about our time outdoors and more importantly, exercising in the heat of the day.  In this episode, Dr....

If you’re in healthcare, you understand the range of healthcare literacy among our patients. However, healthcare literacy is not the entire story. The experience of actually being in a healthcare facility accounts for a large portion of a person’s healthcare perspective.  Could you imagine entering a facility expecting to discuss your concerns and be heard? But instead, you are met with an imperso...

In this episode, Dr. Burriesci discusses the frustrations with student affiliations.  With the help of Webster and the Oxford Dictionary, she breaks down the definition of a student and an intern.  She dives into the purpose of clinical affiliations and what they should represent. She explains why facilities should prioritize a systematic approach to student experiences and perhaps even form a ded...

In this Episode: - Benefits of Jane - How I use Jane - How to show skill in your documentation - Documenting exam findings - Articulating your assessment Interested in Jane? Jane, is an all-in-one practice management software with helpful features to power your practice.  Head to jane.app/burriesci to book a personalized demo.  Don't forget, you can use the code CARDIOPULM1MO at the time of s...

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A garden produces vegetables and fruit all summer long and while that feels like it happens overnight, that’s not true. Gardens take time, nutrients, sunlight and the proper environment to grow and flourish in the best way each individual plant can.  In this episode, Dr. Burriesci plants the idea that personal growth is a game of patience, hard work behind the scenes, and some dropped leaves befor...

Do you know that flutter in your heart or when your heart skips a beat because you have had too much caffeine for the day? That’s called a premature ventricular contraction (PVC) and most of the time, it is benign. But when does that change? In this episode, Dr. Burriesci unravels the mystery behind PVC’s as they appear on an electrocardiogram (EKG) and dlve into how physical therapists can play a...

If you only had access to one PT tool or device for your eval and/or treatment session what would it be?    In this episode, Dr. Burriesci delves into the item she’d (likely) bring to a desert island, a pulse oximeter. She explains the invaluable information that can come from this device and it’s not specifically O2 related.  Yes a pulse ox will give you a quick read on oxygen and heart rate, and...

In this episode, Dr. Burriesci chats about how necessary it is to advocate for our own profession and sometimes that can be as simple as wearing your damn stethoscope.  Although this episode is not specifically promoting wearing your stethoscope and it’s definitely not about shaming you for not wearing one, it’s actually about recognizing our role in supporting each other. It’s all about elevating...

As part of the healthcare team, Physical Therapists help investigate what symptoms our patients may be experiencing and help facilitate better motion and positioning to help them find relief from their symptoms. In this episode, Dr. Burriesci reviews a recent patient case of pericarditis and the possible manifestations of this diagnosis. She explains what symptoms and presentations we may see from...

When we think of a cardiac patient, who’s had heart surgery, we think of an older adult. They could be anywhere from slightly deconditioned to very deconditioned, which means it could impact how much physical activity they can handle. But, what if that’s just a stereotype? In this episode, Dr. Burriesci starts by introducing Dr. Kyle Brunelle and his passion for lifting, hiking, jujitsu and breath...

Have you been a clinician for a few years and wonder what’s next in your career? Do you think about what more you could be doing or do you have a special interest in a specific population, but you’re unclear what it takes to work with them? A residency is maybe the next step. However, it can feel overwhelming to think about uprooting your life to move, taking a pay cut or even finding the why behi...

We hear that words matter, but could the words we say as clinicians be impacting our patient’s results? It could be! In this episode, Dr. Burriesci chats about Pursed Lip Breathing (PLB) as an intervention for patients with an Emphysema diagnosis, anxiety or post-exercise. This intervention is extremely popular and easy to perform, but the traditional cue of “blow out the candle” is often misused....

You get a breathing exercise, you get a breathing exercise, everyone gets breathing exercises (even your orthopedic patients)! In this episode, Dr. Burriesci educates on the importance of utilizing breathing exercises and how they can be incorporated into patient sessions, across the spectrum. She explains that almost every patient/client can benefit from breathing exercises and that there are spe...

We know Heart Failure (HF) is a diagnosis that does not occur overnight, rather it occurs due to years and years of stress placed on the heart.  Resulting in years and years of management and likely hospital admissions and readmissions. As clinicians, we have to understand our patient’s diagnoses to help guide their therapy and give them the tools to set them up for success.  We should implement s...

What’s an illness that is diagnosed by a cluster of symptoms and can have pink frothy sputum? Heart Failure! To say heart failure is a complicated diagnosis is an understatement. As clinicians, we have to think about the underlying pathophysiology to understand patient presentation, how to direct treatment (coming next week to your favorite pod) and how we can help our patients navigate this diagn...

As physical therapists, we are known to have catchy phrases like “movement is medicine”. We hear it all the time in school, we say it to our patients, but is it more than just a catchy phrase? Would it be the magic pill that solves so many disease management problems?  In this episode, Dr. Burriesci walks us through how lifestyle modifications may take us down a path of less disease. She reviews h...

In This Episode: -  Bring awareness of risk of heart disease in women - Common misconceptions of  heart disease based on gender - Identify atypical signs of angina - Cardiac Risk Factors - Reasons for misdiagnosis of heart attack in women - Obstructive disease vs. microvascular disease Ezekowitz J et all. Is There a Sex Gap in Surviving an Acute Coronary Syndrome or Subsequent Development of Heart...

How did a 2-week shutdown turn into a 3-year (and counting) battle of the same virus? The virus has taught us about what a spike protein looked like because we saw it everywhere. But yet, we aren’t sure why some people get GI symptoms and others end up in a critical condition in the hospital.  The novel virus, COVID-19, is unlike any other virus that we have had to deal with in the modern age. It...