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This is Sean, a Canadian respiratory therapist. Tune in and learn about his profession!
Hi folks! This interview I talk to Sean Marshall, a respiratory therapist in Ontario, Canada. We do not have this profession in Australia and I believe it is mainly in North America and Canada. So I wanted to learn more about it and the training and daily role these RTs provide.
Things we discuss :
Sean provided some commentary and reference link below:
Hi Minh,
This article may be an appropriate citation, I’ll let you be the judge.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21233157
There are many studies such as this one. They are often used to advocate that ventilator management by a Respiratory Therapist following a protocol achieves better success than physician’s managing the ventilator. I support this view but feel it is a bit of an extrapolation from the actual findings of the studies to say one group of professionals does a better job than another.
Although I can’t seem to find a good reference, I would also make the following pitch for RTs: During a night shift in hospital, it is often a single physician responsible for the medicine wards. It may be a Resident or specialist Attending that does not have a great deal of experience with critical care and airway management. I feel that especially at times of day when staffing is less, that a Respiratory Therapist brings experience and confidence to airway management and ventilation, allowing the physician to step back and lead the whole team through a resuscitation. I feel this is a safer model of care than requiring the MD to simultaneously take in all the facts and lead an effective resuscitation while at the same time searching for vocal cords to pass a tube or initiating mechanical ventilation. And if you staff multiple physicians to address that situation, RTs can fill the need more cost-effectively.
I understand it’s political, but I felt compelled to advocate for my profession.
Thanks again,
Sean
enjoy the podcast
Minh
Right Click and Choose Save-as to Download the Podcast.
By Minh Le Cong, MDThis is Sean, a Canadian respiratory therapist. Tune in and learn about his profession!
Hi folks! This interview I talk to Sean Marshall, a respiratory therapist in Ontario, Canada. We do not have this profession in Australia and I believe it is mainly in North America and Canada. So I wanted to learn more about it and the training and daily role these RTs provide.
Things we discuss :
Sean provided some commentary and reference link below:
Hi Minh,
This article may be an appropriate citation, I’ll let you be the judge.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21233157
There are many studies such as this one. They are often used to advocate that ventilator management by a Respiratory Therapist following a protocol achieves better success than physician’s managing the ventilator. I support this view but feel it is a bit of an extrapolation from the actual findings of the studies to say one group of professionals does a better job than another.
Although I can’t seem to find a good reference, I would also make the following pitch for RTs: During a night shift in hospital, it is often a single physician responsible for the medicine wards. It may be a Resident or specialist Attending that does not have a great deal of experience with critical care and airway management. I feel that especially at times of day when staffing is less, that a Respiratory Therapist brings experience and confidence to airway management and ventilation, allowing the physician to step back and lead the whole team through a resuscitation. I feel this is a safer model of care than requiring the MD to simultaneously take in all the facts and lead an effective resuscitation while at the same time searching for vocal cords to pass a tube or initiating mechanical ventilation. And if you staff multiple physicians to address that situation, RTs can fill the need more cost-effectively.
I understand it’s political, but I felt compelled to advocate for my profession.
Thanks again,
Sean
enjoy the podcast
Minh
Right Click and Choose Save-as to Download the Podcast.