Physiotherapy of the respiratory and circulatory system is one of the specialization areas of physiotherapy. Respiratory physiotherapy aims to support breathing functions using various methods, i.a. in various respiratory diseases, which up to one million Finns suffer from. The teaching of respiratory physiotherapy is included as part of the physiotherapy degree program in universities of applied sciences in Finland. The purpose of this study was to explore physiotherapist students’ experiences of the teaching of respiratory physiotherapy in the context of a university of applied sciences. The aim of the study was to expand the understanding of the experiences related to the teaching of respiratory physiotherapy, viewed from the perspective of physiotherapist students.

The study was conducted as a qualitative interview study using the phenomenological-hermeneutic research approach. The material was collected in May – June 2021 through individual interviews. A total of six second- or third-year physical therapy students participated the study. They were all recruited from the same university of applied sciences. The interviews were transcribed verbatim and the material was analyzed individually using IPA analysis.

As a result of the six-step IPA analysis, a total of eight experimental themes describing the research phenomenon were formed from the research material: experiences of (1) good educational content and successful teaching implementation of respiratory physiotherapy, (2) the need to clarify the teaching contents of the course, (3) the need to prioritize theory teaching, (4) time management and learning environment-related challenges of practical training classes, (5) the educational deficiency in respiratory physiotherapy inspection and instruction, (6) the clarity of teaching in practical training classes, (7) the importance of authentic patient instruction experiences in respiratory physiotherapy studies, (8) the importance of PEP- bottle exercise in respiratory physiotherapy.

This study is known to be the first study directly targeting the phenomenon under investigation. Physiotherapist students gave meaning to their experiences related to the teaching of respiratory physiotherapy by mirroring the experiences related to theory teaching, practical teaching and practical training periods. The positive experience connected to the teaching of respiratory physiotherapy appeared as an experience of good educational content and successful implementation of the teaching. On the contrary, the negative experience appeared as the need of clarifying the teaching content and prioritizing theory teaching, as well as the challenges of time management in practical teaching. The time management challenges continued to appear as an experience of occasional lack of teaching, which was reflected in the students' descriptions of the experience of uncertainty. The results of this study can be utilized in the planning and development of respiratory physiotherapy teaching.