Respiratory Care Services

The Respiratory Care Department at Weiss Memorial Hospital is an allied health specialty that promotes cardiopulmonary wellness using a variety of therapeutic modalities to identify and treat acute or chronic dysfunctions of the cardiopiulmonary system.  Our licensed Respiratory Therapists are trained to assess, treat, manage, control, educate, and care for patients with cardiopulmonary problems.

The Respiratory Care Department functions 24 hours a day, 7 days a week under medical direction to provide the best possible treatment and to meet a wide variety of patients’ health care needs.

Services provided include (but are not limited to):

• Patient education – Licensed respiratory therapists provide education and bedside instruction on all therapeutic modalities offered, including equipment demonstrations and educational materials describing medications and respiratory diseases such as asthma and Copd.
• Oxygen therapy – Licensed respiratory therapists administer and maintain oxygen delivery devices such as nasal cannulas and oxygen masks, monitor oxygen saturations, and initiate the weaning process to determine if and when oxygen can be safely discontinued.
• Nebulizer and aerosol therapy -- Licensed respiratory therapists administer bronchodilators using nebulizers or meter dose inhalers to provide airway maintenance, relieve airway obstruction, and promote airway clearance.
• Hyperinflation therapy – Post-operatively, all patients are instructed by the licensed respiratory therapist on incentive breathing exercises, such as deep breathing and breath holding techniques which help to naturally inflate the lungs, increase cough effectiveness, and prevent atelectasis (collapse of lungs due to incomplete expansion) and reduce the chances of pulmonary infection.
• Bronchial hygiene therapy -- Licensed respiratory therapists perform chest percussion, positive expiratory pressure therapy, and flutter therapy to improve cough effectiveness, reduce pulmonary infiltrates, and mobilize thick retrained secretions.
• Mechanical ventilation -- Licensed respiratory therapists initiate and maintain all forms of positive pressure life support systems such as mechanical ventilators and Bipap and Cpap systems.  All cardiac artery bypass patients are placed on mechanical ventilators post-operatively to support ventilation after surgery.

Visit the Pulmonary Function Laboratory page for more information on our pulmonary testing services.

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