Respiratory therapists are health care professionals who are responsible for taking care of people who have lung and heart problems. Respiratory therapist responsibilities include treating patients with infections, diseases and viruses. RT’s care for patients who range from newborns’ to elderly. They have knowledge in pulmonary functions, pathophysiology, cardiopulmonary, and technology which allows them to thoroughly diagnose and treat patients with disorders. They deal with disorders such as COPD, pneumonia, asthma, flail chest, and many more. They also work with patients who have or had sleep disorders and heart attacks. However, they can also provide emergency care for people who suffered from drowning or heart attacks. RT’s who work in
Respiratory therapists eat, sleep, and work mainly in hospitals. It is common to work in nursing homes or even travel to patients’ homes. From the time babies are born to the adults reaching old age, they assist anyone who has breathing difficulties. Typically, RT’s interview/examine patients, perform diagnostic tests, treat patients, monitor/record the progress of treatment and teach patients how to use treatments (“Occupational Outlook Handbook”). The environment in which they work in is extremely clean to prevent patients from catching bugs that can put their health in more danger.
Ever since I was a little girl I wanted to help people, from a Doctor to a Pediatrician, even an X-ray Technician. As I got older I realized my true calling was in Respiratory Therapy. The human body is such an incredible thing and I found myself wanting to learn more and more about it.
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Respiratory Therapists work in sleep laboratories helping to diagnose disorders like sleep apnea, in skilled nursing facilities and pulmonary rehabilitation programs helping older people breathe easier and get more out of life. Respiratory Therapists play an important role in asthma education. Not only can they treat disorders and breathing complications their job are to diagnose the patient and follow diagnostics procedures. Common procedures respiratory therapists perform are Arterial Blood Gas Analysis, Pulmonary Function Studies, Sleep Studies, EKG and Cardiac Test, Sputum Specimens, and Stress/Exercise test. Smoking programs assisting those who want to kick the habit for good also in air transport and ambulance programs rushing to rescue people in need of immediate medical attention.
I didn’t know what to expect with my observation with the respiratory therapist. All what I knew about them was they floated around and gave patients aerosol breathing treatments. I learned that a respiratory therapist does a lot more than that. They have access to the Pixis, and are able to give patients any type of respiratory medication. They teach patients how to correctly use inhalers. They educate their patients on way they have to do breathing treatments, or why they have to take certain respiratory medications. They also do an examination to find out what type of breathing treatment or oxygen device is needed to help a patient get the oxygen they need, or help with expanding their lungs, etc
The Senior Respiratory Therapist responsibilities are to supervise the respiratory staff, staffing schedules, keep staff up-to-date on projects and deadlines, schedule client appointments, sales, marketing, hiring of respiratory staff, and educating the community.
Next, there are the hours which you can either work morning or night shift. Usually 8 or more hours a day. They monitor about 15 patients each day, checking on them at least twice. Also, they help newborns, people with smoking problems, place people on ventilators, and deal with intensive care units. They are pretty busy throughout their day. Respiratory Therapist would have to be friendly and have good social skills to deal with different patients. Also, have a strong stomach, because they deal with a lot of nasty things. On the plus side there is always the opportunities.
In recent years respiratory therapy has gained a vast amount of recognition. According to "The Bureau of Labor Statistics", the employment of respiratory therapists is projected to grow nineteen percent over the next seven years. Along with increasing advancements in technology and medical research, there is also an ever increasing demand for respiratory therapists worldwide. Breathing is something that every individual must do, however, there are sometimes altercations in doing so, and this is where respiratory therapy comes into effect. In order to learn more about this topic, I enrolled into a Writing and Research course at my college. Upon taking this course, I had the pleasure of shadowing a couple of respiratory therapists at
By entering the field of respiratory therapy, one is entering a growing field of opportunity. There are continually emergent job opportunities in this field whereas there is also a rise of growth in the technology and developments in the field such as medicines, techniques, and other aspects.
I think respiratory therapist would be good job for me, as I think I would be good for this major as well. I am everything that is necessary of this field, persistent, hardworking willing, and wanting to learn, and wants to improve further in respiratory therapist. The spirit and power it takes to work in medical field I have that, but along with what I was convey to be and want to do make me even more of a positive element to the field.
The American Association for Respiratory Care is a non-profit organization which provides numerous resources for registered respiratory therapists all over the United States. Membership through the AARC renders an abundance of incentives such as professional development, respiratory care education, social networking opportunities, continuing education programs and much more. The American Association for Respiratory Care truly believes in the cause of respiratory therapy and in the rights of their patients to receive competent respiratory care. Their advocacy team works with local, state and federal governments concerning public policies that affect their patients as well as their profession.
Pulmonary rehabilitation has been clearly demonstrated to reduce dyspnea, increase exercise capacity, and improve quality of life in individuals with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. There has been an increased evidence of the effcicay of pulmonary rehabilitation for COPD and other related respiratory diseases such as interstitial lung disease, bronchiectasis, cystic fibrosis, asthma, pulmonary hypertension, lung cancer, lung volume reduction surgery, and lung transplantation (Spruit et al., 2013).
Respiratory Therapy will change the future. There are so many things that respiratory therapists perform that people don’t even know about. A huge job for a respiratory therapist is helping patients with cystic fibrosis. This is an incurable disease, but as we further research and learn better ways to help these patients, we as respiratory therapists can definitely prolong their lives and make them as close to normal as possible. Another way we will change the future is by saving lives. There are so many lives that we can save that could lead to incredible things in this world that wouldn’t be accomplished without us saving that life. Another great advancement with respiratory therapy will be the technology we use. As we get more advanced in
I then needed to carry out a respiratory assessment. I observed Mr Brown’s chest for any visible signs of scars or trauma. This appeared normal.
The role of the pulmonologist is to perform additional diagnostic test and prescribing the right medication that works for the patient. The role of the respiratory therapist is provide patient with nebulizer treatment and patient education such as inhaler training. The role of pulmonary rehabilitation therapists is to provide care for COPD patients to improve their symptoms, endurance and quality of life, (Lilly & Senderovich,2016).