People: Respiratory Therapists

The extraordinary unsung heroes of the Covid world…

Air hungry…

Respiratory Therapists, the great unsung heroes in the medical arena on any given day, and tragically they still remain mostly unrecognized in our Covid world. A world reality of increasing demands for their highly specialized skills as in ventilator care and critical pulmonary disease support. How can this possibly be? Working together with your Nurse, your Doctor, the Hospitalist, the Critical Care Specialists, the Surgeons, all of whom you are reasonably familiar with, so no explanation needed. The Respiratory Therapist, perhaps not.

So, let me start by saying that Respiratory Therapists are clinical specialists with highly tuned pulmonary skills, whose expertise is critical to the thoughtful and complex management of breathing. They are omni-present in the health care setting and work alongside and in concert with other clinicians in the management of maintaining and supporting the breathing demands of patients who are unable to breathe independently without medical intervention.When there is a critical pulmonary injury, a problematic birth, a neonatal emergency, an asthmatic starving for air, a COPD patient ready to collapse you will find them at their bedside. They are an omni presence in the ER following a suicidal attempt, overdose, trauma case and all scenarios that can compromise adequate breathing function. They are present in the Medical Center/Hospital 24 hours a day, 365 days a year and unabashedly devoted to your breathing needs, as that is the sole purpose of their clinical practice. You will find them in every nook and cranny of the health care setting, wherever patient breathing support needs require them to go. You will find them in the ER’s, ICU’s, pediatric units, neonatal intensive care nurseries, in adult and geriatric care units, in rehabilitation, in Pulmonary Function Testing, on ECMO teams, on lung transplant teams, on hemodynamic teams, on patient transport teams, in the home care setting, in the Pulmonologist office and in educational institutions. Even with all that said, I am sure I have missed some venues where the Respiratory Therapists are being called upon for support. Yet, do you know who they are?

Respiratory Therapists are an integral part of the teams working collaboratively, with Physician oversight to manage, triage, monitor and report the level of needed intervention for breathing issues. When critical intervention is needed due to a breathing crisis and mechanical ventilation is required, as is often the case in severe disease due to Covid, the Respiratory Therapist is at the bedside providing highly tuned complex skills in ventilator management and support. They are essential to the critical care world, the acute care world, the rehabilitation world, and the outpatient world where their teaching and coaching for preventative airway strategies are invaluable. Unfortunately, outside of the medical arena they are unrecognized for their knowledge, experience, expertise, and true worth.

Think about this… today in our current crazy Covid reality that we inhabit you may require hospitalization and critical intervention due to a severe downward viral spiral. In this scenario Respiratory Therapists will be working in conjunction with the medical team to provide you breathing support and management via mechanical ventilation while you work to fight the virus. These highly intensive supportive strategies will be tantamount to your survival and the Respiratory Therapist will be one of your critical drivers. Yet, how often have you heard tell of the Respiratory Therapist as the front line care giver? How often, if at all, do you hear of them in the news, in the paper, on the Internet, on the TV, or during Covid updates by the State and Government?

Respiratory Therapists are working in this highly specialized field because they love their work, and are dedicated to work for positive outcomes, life. It is as simple as that. They are not here for the money, because there is very poor monetary compensation compared to their cohorts. They are not here for the glory, because obviously that does not currently exist. Only a very few outside of the medical world who rely on their expertise know who they are and what they do. They are not here for the perks, for none of the traditional perks exist in the not for profit world. I think it would be fair to say that the perks are embedded in their joy in realizing good outcomes, simply and pure. They are here for us, all of us, young and old alike, with love, unsung.

A case of the extraordinary and beautifully ordinary unsung in our world today.