ASSOBRAFIR

Brazilian Association of Cardiorespiratory Physiotherapy and Physiotherapy

The current ASSOBRAFIR was founded on September 2, 1986, in Olinda (PE), with the initial name of the Brazilian Society of Respiratory Physiotherapy (SOBRAFIR). The entity was created during the 3rd International Symposium on Respiratory Physiotherapy (SIFR), a scientific event that had been created by physiotherapist Dr. Carlos Alberto Caetano Azeredo in 1983.

“ASSOBRAFIR was born thanks to the fighting spirit of our colleague Azeredo. He was the head, the spirit, the spirit”, summarizes Dr. Hilda Angélica Iturriaga Jiménez, also a physiotherapist, another precursor of Respiratory Physiotherapy in Brazil. Both had already worked in this field since the 1970s (he in Rio de Janeiro, she in Minas Gerais). In the early 1980s, Dr. Carlos Azeredo organized the Center for Studies in Respiratory Physiotherapy, the embryo of the future association.

With the creation of the then SOBRAFIR, SIFR became the institution's main scientific activity. Each edition of the symposium is a sample of the association's growth and, mainly, of the development of the respective specialties. At the 7th SIFR, held from July to August 1994 in Salvador (BA), the entity awarded the first titles of professional specialist in Respiratory Physiotherapy to a group of 11 professionals through a proficiency exam.

New competitions took place in the SIFR editions until 2010 to grant the title of specialist. As of 2012, the tests started to be approved by the Federal Council of Physiotherapy and Occupational Therapy (COFFITO). In addition to Respiratory Physiotherapy, recognized in 1998, the Federal Council later standardized two more specialties linked to ASSOBRAFIR: Physiotherapy in Intensive Care (2011) and Cardiovascular Physiotherapy (2015).

For legal reasons, in 2006 the entity changed its name to the Brazilian Association of Cardiorespiratory Physiotherapy and Intensive Care Physiotherapy (ASSOBRAFIR). Three years later, in 2009, the magazine “ASSOBRAFIR Ciência” began to be published. In 2010, the institution launched the PROFISIO update program, resulting from a partnership with Artmed Panamericana Editora.

Closer and closer to the professionals in the specialties it represents, ASSOBRAFIR is headquartered in the city of São Paulo and currently has 17 Regional Units (Amazonas, Bahia, Ceará, Federal District, Maranhão, Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul, Minas Gerais, Pará, Paraná, Pernambuco, Rio de Janeiro, Rio Grande do Norte, Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina, São Paulo and Sergipe), five Representation Centers (Alagoas, Goiás, Paraíba, Piauí and Roraima) and three Study Groups (Amapá, Espírito Santo and Tocantins).