Responsibilities: I had to follow around a respiratory therapist as he checked on patients.

Knowledge: I found out that for patients that are having trouble breathing it isn't always oxygen in the ventilators. They put a muscle relaxer so that the patients throat will allow an easier flow of air.

Best: I got too encounter more patients this time. I saw the therapist clean out a couple patients mouths.

Worst: It was my second time following a respiratory therapist, and the field has been pretty boring both times.

This week was fair. I did gain more experience in the subject, but there wasn't much to see.

Tech:I saw ventilators that were only assisting the patients breath but not completely breathing for them. I saw a couple other cool looking machines at the foot of the beds that no one seemed to know what they did.

Diagnostic: We looked at the breaths per minute and compared them to earlier data and saw that one of the patients was improving. The therapist said that if he could continue to strengthen his lungs then he would be completely off the ventilator.

Therapeutic: I watched him put a muscle relaxer into the ventilator to loosen up the throat muscles. He also brushed and sucked out the saliva of a couple of patients.

Diseases: I saw that a couple patients had gotten pneumonia from being immobilized with saliva in their mouths. The respiratory therapist wasn't looking so hot himself.

Terms: Renal failure- kidney failure  ABG- arterial blood gas

I walked in and all the therapists seemed to be under the weather. I thought it was kind of dangerous for them to be around people with weak immune systems. the therapists were going around and cleaning mouths and adjusting ventilators. The equipment that they work with include mainly the monitors and the ventilator. The guy I folloewed was in charge of flushing them out.

Their job seems kind of repetitive. The only excitement seems to come from the codes. They seem to work on their own thing and are good with working alongside the ICU doctors and nurses. I had to wait outside one of the precaution rooms as the therapist did an abg on a patient. He was one of  the only people of whom I've followed that has washed his hands after every patient he saw. Wecdidn't do very many hands on things as he only cleaned out ventilators and mouths.

The ventilators apparently vapor out a muscle relaxant to allow for an easier flow of air to the patients hooked up. We visited a guy who had renal failure meaning that his kidneys stopped working.  He looked like he was in a lot of pain , yet he  was semi conscious. His eyes followed me the whole time. The therapist talked to him like a normal person, and that was pretty cool.

I thought that it was alright. It wasn't my favorite , but that might have been because I came at a boring time. I saw Amanda during my rotation and made some weird faces at her which was fun, as I waited for my guy to finish charting. Respiratory isn't for me.