RESPIRATORY THERAPY

Respiratory Therapy

Respiratory Therapy

Thesis Statement

Respiratory therapists treat all types of patients, ranging from premature infants whose lungs are not fully developed to elderly people whose lungs are diseased. Respiratory Therapy is not a permanent treatment but it provides a temporary relief to the patients.

Body

Respiratory Therapy, the treatment of lung disease, breathing problems, and certain heart problems. The treatment often is carried out by trained respiratory therapists and technicians under the direction of a physician. Some of the conditions treated by the respiratory therapist are asthma, bronchitis, cystic fibrosis, emphysema, hyaline membrane disease, pneumonia, asbestosis, coal miners' "black lung," heart attack, and stroke. Respiratory therapists also treat breathing problems following surgery or resulting from automobile or other accidents (Whitworth, 2004).

One of the most dramatic services provided by respiratory therapists and technicians is resuscitation of persons who have suffered heart attacks, electrocution, or drowning. By a technique called cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), many lives are saved every day.

Respiratory therapists are usually qualified by two-year programs in community or junior colleges, with clinical experience in hospitals. Respiratory therapy technicians typically receive their training in one-year programs in hospitals or vocational-technical schools (Nightingale, 2002).

Respiratory therapists treat all types of patients, ranging from premature infants whose lungs are not fully developed to elderly people whose lungs are diseased. Respiratory therapists provide temporary relief to patients with chronic asthma or emphysema, as well as emergency care to patients who are victims of a heart attack, stroke, drowning, or shock. When a patient has difficulty getting enough oxygen into their blood, therapists increase the patient's concentration of oxygen by placing an oxygen mask or nasal canola on a patient and set the oxygen flow at the level prescribed by a physician. Therapists also connect patients who cannot breathe on their own to ventilators that deliver pressurized oxygen into the ...