Resp Care
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Healthcare policymakers, governmental and private alike, are now faced with an enormous challenge. Demands for improved access to cost-effective and high quality healthcare are emanating from all segments of our society. Clearly, the traditional model of admitting patients to an acute care hospital as a first-line intervention is losing favor. ⋯ Home respiratory equipment and supplies, while an important component of managing chronic respiratory disease, are only effective if used safely, properly, and in compliance with the prescribing physician's intentions. The use of skilled and dedicated home respiratory therapists to train patients, monitor and assess outcomes, and communicate with the prescribing physician ensures optimum results. It is time for reimbursement policies to recognize this vital role played by home respiratory therapists.
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Checking and maintaining mechanical ventilators traditionally have been the responsibility of the respiratory care practitioner and among the many reasons that the need for the profession of respiratory care persists. The increasing complexity of the mechanical ventilator itself and the appropriate application and monitoring of the various modes available in a single device are such reasons. ⋯ The perception of an institution's need for trained respiratory care specialists is affected by both the quality and quantity of service that each individual RCP offers to the care of patients. Our skills and performance should be patient-centered not device-centered so that our assessment and monitoring of patients includes more than just "writing down the numbers." Finally, respiratory care research must continue to subject the old dogma to rigorous scrutiny while searching for new and innovative ways to care for our patients.