A Kid-Friendly Approach to Incentive Spirometry

Incentive spirometer (IS) is a popular choice for chest physiotherapy. It is used to optimize preoperative respiratory status and prevent postoperative pulmonary complications. However, the use of conventional forms of IS pose a challenging task in children due to the lack of cooperation, compliance, and submaximal effort on the part of pediatric patients. To tackle this problem, we describe an innovative and fascinating technique of spirometry. It employs a toy as a better acceptable incentive spirometry device in pediatric population. This toy has a mouthpiece and a long inflatable plastic strip at the other end. As the child blows into the mouthpiece, a captivating sound from the toy keeps buzzing progressively till the air is being blown during exhalation and is accompanied with inflation of the strip in an elongated fashion. Hence, this device incorporates the two best enjoyed incentives for children, namely, visual and audio to ensure patient compliance and participation.