Role Of Respiratory Therapist
Based on the schedule, I assigned to go to a hospital tour at 9:00 AM. We went to the hospital, and we were lost. We did not know where should we go and who would take and guide us in the tour. Then, there was a security man near us, and he asked us if we need any help. We told him we were respiratory therapy students, and we should have a tour in the hospital, but we did not know where we should go. He took us to the pulmonary function test lab, and we were waiting near it until it became 9:30 AM. Then, one of my colleagues went to a security man who was near us and told him that we had a tour, but we did not know who our tour guide. The security made some calling and then he said that Mr. Riyadh Lashkar was our tour guide and he would come after five or ten minutes. Then at 9:45, Mr. Riyadh came and apologized for being late, then we start our tour.
First, because we were near from PFT lab, we started our tour from it. We entered the PFT lab, and he sat and said that respiratory therapy specialty is new, and there was no master degree in it except in one university and it was not in Saudi Arabia. If someone went to that university and took a master’s degree, then he came back to work in Saudi Arabia, it would be no difference between him and the person who had a bachelor’s degree. Then he started to talk about the PFT lab. He said that PFT lab was one of the places where respiratory therapist work. The respiratory therapist used it to assess the proper function of the lung and the respiratory system. It also used to follow the course of some diseases. Moreover, it was used for diagnosis and it had a role in treatment. He also showed us the machines and tools that were used.
Second, we went to the ICUs. There were four ICUs in the hospital. We started at pediatric ICU, and then we entered neonatal ICU, and finally adult ICU. Before we entered the ICUs, Mr. Riyadh asked us to sterilize our hands carefully and remain quiet as soon as we entered. He said that if we did not sterilize our hands, the patients who were in the ICU could have an infection. Finally, we entered the ICU. He told us that one of the ICUs in the hospital was specific to ventilator-dependent patients who cannot live without the ventilator. That ICU was very quiet, and we heard the Quran in some rooms. Moreover, that ICU was a little dark. Mr. Riyadh showed us the ventilator and gave us a brief explanation about how it worked.
Third, we went to a sleep disorders lab. There were rooms, and it was looked like normal rooms, not as hospital rooms. Mr. Riyadh said that they asked the patients to sleep in those rooms and connected them with electrodes, so they could do the test. He also said that they prepared the rooms as normal rooms to make the patients comfortable and sleep well. Moreover, he said that in sleep disorders lab neurologist were mainly work, but the respiratory therapists had a big and important role in it. Finally, we went to the place where they stored the equipment. He told us that taking sputum specimens and did the arterial blood gas test are some of the things that the respiratory therapist did. He also said that when we took a blood sample, we took it from the artery not from the vein as in other tests, so it needed a different and specific type of needles. Furthermore, he showed us the types of ventilators, the needle that was used for taking a blood sample, cylinders, and nebulizers.
