Physiotherapy has been widely accepted as an integral part of post operative care following open heart surgeries. Preventing and correcting postoperative pulmonary complications are the main goals of postoperative physiotherapy. In the health care practice following a uniform protocol based on the available evidence is considered as one of the important tool in improving the quality of care. With this back ground this study was aimed to identify the variability in postoperative care at national level., Methods: The randomly identified centres which perform open heart surgeries were approached for this survey. The senior most therapists were interviewed through telephone by using a standardised questionnaire. The questionnaire consisted of various aspects of postoperative physiotherapy., Results: Out of 28 centres which were contacted, representatives of 25 centres participated in this interview. There was a marked difference in postoperative physiotherapy care among these centres. In all the centres Deep breathing was practised mandatorily but the recent techniques like Active Cycle of breathing techniques were underutilized. Phase II cardiac rehabilitation was followed only in two centres. This survey leads us to think of formulating a nationwide protocol for postoperative Physiotherapy.

Key words: Postoperative Pulmonary Complications, Physiotherapy, Open Heart Surgery.