• Rebecca Armaghan, Brittany Geesey, Jerin Juby, Javier Amador-Castaneda, Allison Bollinger, Karsten J Roberts, Rachel Newberry, Mandy Harshberger, Nathan Radabaugh, Margie Pierce, Natalie Napolitano, and ; for the Pennsylvania Respiratory Research Collaborative Investigators.
• Division of Nursing, Respiratory Care Department, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
• Respir Care. 2020 Jul 1; 65 (7): 972-976.

BackgroundThe Pennsylvania Respiratory Research Collaborative formed in January 2017 for the purpose of providing mentorship and opportunities to participate in statewide research, quality improvement, and evidence-based practice projects. The inaugural project was designed to investigate and describe the practice of respiratory therapy in Pennsylvania.MethodsA survey related to the practice and business of in-patient respiratory therapy departments was developed and sent to managers/directors of every hospital within the state of Pennsylvania. The survey period was October 2017 to April 2018. Pennsylvania hospitals were contacted to ask the respiratory therapy manager/director to complete the electronic survey. One hundred eighty-eight hospitals with in-patient respiratory therapy departments were contacted; direct information for the respiratory therapy manager/director was obtained for 159 hospitals.ResultsOf the 159 hospitals sent the survey, 101 (63.5%) responded. Of the respondents, 52% were academic medical centers. For staff positions, 50% prefer a bachelor's degree, and 77.3% prefer the Registered Respiratory Therapist certification. However, managers are only able to hire preferred candidates 50% of the time. Clinical ladders are utilized in 29% of the responding institution, and protocols are utilized in 74% of hospitals, with the most common being ventilator (92%), bronchodilator (79%), airway clearance (56%), hyperinflation (41%), and disease-specific (23%). Respiratory therapists in 84% of the hospitals perform nontraditional procedures, with the most common being electrocardiography (35%), advanced procedures including intubation (20%), arterial line placement (14%), blind bronchoalveolar lavage (14%), and electroencephalography (12%). Respiratory therapists are utilized in alternative roles in 42% of hospitals. The most common alternative roles are patient educator (29%), out-patient clinics (21%), patient navigators (19%), transport (14%), extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (6%), case managers (5%), research (5%), and telehealth (2%).ConclusionsThe practice of respiratory therapy in the state of Pennsylvania varies greatly, with a small number of hospitals practicing at the top of their license. Additional research is needed to understand variations in practice.Copyright © 2020 by Daedalus Enterprises.

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