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 before we flower. There’s no overnight success. When growing our own gardens we need to learn how to adapt, face challenges and setbacks and give ourselves the tools to make adjustments when needed. Remember there are many weeks prior to picking fruit where it’s just dirt in a cup (or a box).

Listen for a lighthearted episode on how to dig deep, persevere when the winter months come and bloom where you are planted.

Find me on:

IG: @all_things_cardiopulm
Threads: @all_things_cardiopulm
Website: www.allthingscardiopulm.com
Twitter: @allcardiopulm
Linked-In: Rachele Burriesci
Text at 913-308-4494

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 pivotal role in managing PVC’s. She explains how PT’s can identify, address and what can exacerbate PVC symptoms. She educates on how to address this during a session and when to terminate a session because it can become more than just a benign PVC. 

Now grab a coffee, or watch your caffeine intake, and listen now!

In this Episode:

• Definition of a Premature Ventricular Contraction (PVC)
• ECG descriptors for PVCs
• Common causes of PVCs
• What 3 PVCs in a row actually mean
• Common PVC patterns  on ECG

Join my main newsletter:  https://allthingscardiopulm.ck.page/9bb2730421

Want to sign up for a mentoring call with Dr. Burriesci? Sign up here: https://www.allthingscardiopulm.com/mentoring

Find me on:

IG: @all_things_cardiopulm
Threads: @all_things_cardiopulm
Website: www.allthingscardiopulm.com
Twitter: @allcardiopulm
Linked-In: Rachele Burriesci
Text at 913-308-4494

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 yes there are common causes for inaccuracies, but what else is it inadvertently telling you? Listen in for a few clinical tips that you likely won’t find in any textbook.  

 And after this episode, you’ll have to let her know if you too will take the pulse ox with you on your deserted island.

In this episode:

- Normal values of spO2

- Common causes of inaccurate readings via pulse-ox

- Atrial fibrillation

- Premature Ventricular Contractions (PVCs)


Join my main newsletter:  https://allthingscardiopulm.ck.page/9bb2730421


Want to sign up for a mentoring call with Dr. Burriesci? Sign up here: https://www.allthingscardiopulm.com/mentoring

Find me on:

IG: @all_things_cardiopulm
Threads: @all_things_cardiopulm
Website: www.allthingscardiopulm.com
Twitter: @allcardiopulm
Linked-In: Rachele Burriesci
Text at 913-308-4494

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 our profession while also educating other professionals and patients about what we are capable of doing. With such a wide scope of practice in our field, we have to remember that even if something is not in our comfort zone or even a skill we don’t personally enjoy, that does not give us permission to down our own profession.  We need to do better and support one another, so we can continue to elevate our profession.  

But if auscultation is a skill you want to become more comfortable with, start by wearing your stethoscope and finding a mentor that can help you master this skill.  Like any area of your life, in order to improve your skills it starts with practice.  And if you’re looking for a mentor, book yourself a mentor session with Dr. Burriesci.

 In this episode:

• Importance of elevating our colleagues
• Promote your skills
• Supporting our wide scope of practice
• Learning a new skill requires practice

Join my main newsletter:  https://allthingscardiopulm.ck.page/9bb2730421

Want to sign up for a mentoring call with Dr. Burriesci? Sign up here: https://www.allthingscardiopulm.com/mentoring

Find me on:

IG: @all_things_cardiopulm
Threads: @all_things_cardiopulm
Website: www.allthingscardiopulm.com
Twitter: @allcardiopulm
Linked-In: Rachele Burriesci
Text at 913-308-4494

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 this patient population so we can be prepared when we assess our patients.  She educates the patient on positioning to help relieve symptoms, breathing strategies, and exercises that can give us the most bang for our buck. She also walks us through what medical interventions are utilized while inpatient and when we should (and shouldn’t!) see these patients from a readiness perspective.

In this episode:

• Pericarditis
• Pericardial Effusion
• Cardiac Tamponade
• Pericardial drain
• Differential diagnosis (angina vs. non-ischemic chest pain)
• Breathing strategies, positioning and interval training
• Importance of vital sign assessment

Find me on:

IG: @all_things_cardiopulm
Threads: @all_things_cardiopulm
Website: www.allthingscardiopulm.com
Twitter: @allcardiopulm
Linked-In: Rachele Burriesci
Text at 913-308-4494

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 breathwork. In 2020, he started a physical therapy business, Renegade Performance, with his wife. He is the optime of an athlete; yet there’s an invisible illness he’s been dealing with since 2015. He was diagnosed with Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy and had an Implanted Cardiac Defibrillator in 2016 but has continued to maintain his high level of physical activity throughout his journey. Dr. Kyle brings a unique viewpoint of the healthcare field because of his clinical background and his venture as a patient. He also has a fun fact about an external defibrillator he carried around for months and a fascinating ICD placement that I can bet you’ve never seen before.

Find out more about his diagnosis, symptoms, and exercise routine now in this episode!

In This Episode:
- Dr. Kyle Brunelle's background as a PT and business owner
- Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy
- Diagnostic findings and symptoms
- Symptom mgmt & treatment of HCM
- S-ICD and Kyle's unique placement
- AED / BLS

Find Dr. Kyle Brunnelle at:
IG: @renegademvmt
website: https://www.renegademovementandperformance.com/

Find me on:

IG: @all_things_cardiopulm
Threads: @all_things_cardiopulm
Website: www.allthingscardiopulm.com
Twitter: @allcardiopulm
Linked-In: Rachele Burriesci
Text at 913-308-4494

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 behind the big life change.

In this episode, Dr Burriesci breaks down the three main roads to becoming a board-certified specialist: residency, mentorship, and self-study. As someone who utilized self-study for her first certification, residency for her second speciality and now mentors people who are sitting for their CCS exam, she explores the pros and cons of each road. She explains that while one lane may not work within your lifestyle, another may be the exact fit for you. She navigates through how to apply, what the interview process looks like (from resident and facility standpoints), what moving across country looks like, tuition vs pay in residency and so much more.

 If you feel like there’s a missing piece in your practice or that you desire more mentorship in a specific topic, check this episode out!

In this episode:

• How to tackle applying for specialty
• Qualifications to sit for a specialty exam in cardiovascular & pulmonary 
• Finding a mentor 
• Pros and cons between self-study vs residency
• Applying to a residency
• Setting yourself up for success
• Is it a good fit for you?

APTA specialist Certification:
https://specialization.apta.org/

American Board of Physical Therapy Residency & Fellowship Education:
https://abptrfe.apta.org/

Mentoring Sessions w Dr. Burriesci
https://www.allthingscardiopulm.com/mentoring

Find me on:

IG: @all_things_cardiopulm
Threads: @all_things_cardiopulm
Website: www.allthingscardiopulm.com
Twitter: @allcardiopulm
Linked-In: Rachele Burriesci
Text at 913-308-4494

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. We want to give our patients a different cue that is mindful of the 1 second inhale to 2 second exhale, to  prevent air trapping, encourage air to move out of the lungs and pace breathing. But if we stop saying “blow out the candle”, then what do we say? Find out now what phrase we should use to maximize PLB and get the most bang for your buck.

 
In This Episode:

• Mechanism of pursed lip breathing (PLB)
• Pathophys of Emphysema
• Importance of the words we choose in cueing
• Visual feedback techniques of PLB

Find me on:

IG: @all_things_cardiopulm
Threads: @all_things_cardiopulm
Website: www.allthingscardiopulm.com
Twitter: @allcardiopulm
Linked-In: Rachele Burriesci
Text at 913-308-4494

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 specific breathing exercises that can be used to help each diagnosis.  But the benefits of using breathing are endless, even if you are not treating patients with cardiac or pulmonary conditions. Incorporating breathing will help set your patient up for success, it will put them in the driver’s seat, give them control and give them the tools to manage a number of issues: SOA, pain, anxiety, atelectasis, pulmonary edema, mucus, diaphragm strength/endurance, gas exchange, the list goes on.

So, while this may not be your common practice (yet), we have to remember to use interventions that we know will make a difference and to treat the whole person. Let’s individualize care for our patients, maximize function and utilize breathing to do just that.

In this episode:

• Discuss the benefits of breathing exercises
• Discuss how to perform the following breathing exercises:
  • Inspiratory holds
  • Stacked breathing
  • Paired breathing
  • Incentive spirometer
• Discuss which breathing exercises will benefit post-surgical patients
• Post-surgical patient: median sternotomy, thoracotomy, clamshell incision
• Define atelectasis
• Discuss changes that occur in the lung post-general anesthesia

Join my main newsletter:  https://allthingscardiopulm.ck.page/9bb2730421

Want to sign up for a mentoring call with Dr. Burriesci? Sign up here: https://www.allthingscardiopulm.com/mentoring

Find me on:

IG: @all_things_cardiopulm
Threads: @all_things_cardiopulm
Website: www.allthingscardiopulm.com
Twitter: @allcardiopulm
Linked-In: Rachele Burriesci
Text at 913-308-4494

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 strategies that can help manage the progression of the disease process and better yet let's start earlier to be preventative vs reactive and in time to actually make an impact.

In this episode, Dr. Burriesci walks us through the latest HF Clinical Practice Guidelines (CPG) along with the New York Heart Association classifications. The goal of the CPG is to establish an evidence-based approach for the optimal treatment of HF. Dr. Burriesci dives deep into how we can utilize these recommendations for our patients and explore the research behind the 2020 CPG. She reviews the daily activity, education, neuromuscular electrical stimulation, resistance breathing training and exercise recommendations set in the CPG. She goes on to explain how we can tailor these interventions to our own patients. This episode gives us, as clinicians, the knowledge of what the perfect numbers should look like, but the realistic insight that we must meet our patients where they’re at to reduce their overall risk.

In this episode:

• Unpack the Heart Failure CPG
• Describe ACC stages vs NYHA Classes of HF
• Discuss 9 action statements aka recommendations for treating patient with heart failure
  • Increase physical activity 
  • Educate!
  •  Aerobic training
  • HIITs
  •  Strength training
  •  Inspiratory/respiratory muscle training
  •  NMES

Find me on:

IG: @all_things_cardiopulm
Threads: @all_things_cardiopulm
Website: www.allthingscardiopulm.com
Twitter: @allcardiopulm
Linked-In: Rachele Burriesci
Text at 913-308-4494