Awareness of the Role of Respiratory Therapists Among Health Care Providers

Abstract

Background: Respiratory therapists (RTs) are health care practitioners trained to use scientific concepts to identify, manage, prevent, and treat acute or chronic dysfunction of the cardiopulmonary system. This study was conducted to measure the level of awareness about the role of RTs among intensive care unit doctors and nurses.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in the ICUs of King Abdulaziz Medical City (KAMC) in Riyadh from June to July 2019. A total of 107 health care providers including doctors and nurses were the participants. The data was collected using a valid and reliable questionnaire which consists of closed-ended questions. The data was entered in Microsoft Excel and analyzed using SPSS 22. Institutional Review Board approval was obtained before staring the data collection. Name of the participant and ID were not collected. Data access was restricted only to the investigators where the data was saved securely.

Results: A total of 107 health care providers working in ICU at KAMC (78.5% of nurses, 21.5% of doctors) participated in this research. A majority of health care providers significantly agreed that RTs were able to assess cardiopulmonary status and review chest radiograph to determine abnormalities (P = 0.001). Also, they confirmed that RTs were able to perform intubation and extubation beside their abilities to interpret hemodynamic monitoring data. They agreed that RTs were capable to manage mechanical ventilator settings for different ventilators, including disease-specific ventilator protocols and weaning procedures (>95%). RTs were supported for their abilities to observe for signs of patient-ventilator dyssynchrony (80.4%). The majority of the participants (>90%) were agreed that RTs can interpret ventilator graphics and spirometric data.

Conclusions: The majority of health care providers were trusting RTs’ ability to assess ICU patients, manage mechanical ventilator settings, and measure spirometric data.