My dad has pneumonia and the doctor told us the best thing to do is to get him to cough, but he can't when we encourage him to. Any suggestions on how to get him to cough?

What worked with my dad, years ago, was getting him to laugh. We brought in CDS with really funny stuff on them, put headphones on and pretty soon, he was laughing and coughing.

I am sure you know this, but make sure his head is elevated while he is in bed as that helps prevent aspiration. Chest physiotherapy is a great suggestion too. If you can encourage him to take a deep breath and cough to at least spit out whatever is in there. Demonstrate to him what you want him to do and ask him to do what you are doing right after you have demonstrated, like when you are in the doctor's office and they ask you to say "ahh" & open your mouth, the person usually takes the cue and tries.
Just a few coughs can clear those rattles until the next time. Good luck!

It may be that your doctor may be unconcerned and is trusting the meds to do the work, but s/he doesn't sound very supportive. I've been looking for answers for you on line, you need to ask about chest physiotherapy, you can google it to see some videos and read articles.

Dear mas,

I found these link with some suggestions, I hope it will help.

http://blog.copdstore.com/9-mucus-clearing-techniques-for-copd-patients