Physiotherapy versus Respiratory Therapy

I am a physio student in my final year preparing for a debate where the topic is essentially should cardiorespiratory care be the role of physiotherapy or respiratory therapy. Here in Canada there is quite a lot of overlap between the roles of the 2 professions, however it's my understanding that in England it is mainly the responsibility of respiratory therapists.
I am wondering about peoples views on whose role it should be and why. Or if anyone knows of any resources where I could look for information

Thanks

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Originally Posted by aabbcjs

I am a physio student in my final year preparing for a debate where the topic is essentially should cardiorespiratory care be the role of physiotherapy or respiratory therapy. Here in Canada there is quite a lot of overlap between the roles of the 2 professions, however it's my understanding that in England it is mainly the responsibility of respiratory therapists.
I am wondering about peoples views on whose role it should be and why. Or if anyone knows of any resources where I could look for information

Thanks

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Hey, I'm a final year student in the UK:)

In the UK you qualify as a regular physio and may then specialise as a respiratory physio if you want (and work in just that area). All respiratory physio's are regular physio's, we don't have 2 seperate qualifications like in Canada, so no overlap here!

Good luck with your debate!

Not sure where you got your info from. In the UK in my experience Chest Physiotherapy was always done by physiotherapists, though in latter years there were such animals as Respiratory nurses, .......they mainly would advise on use of inhalers and meds, maybe on coping technques etc, and carry out respiratory testing and such, as far as I could see.