Ann Marie Chaya
Efficacy of Patient Assessments by
Respiratory Therapists
SchoolNormandy High School • Parma, Ohio
ProgramRespiratory Therapy Internship
MentorJoseph Huff, BS, RRT, CPFT, RCP, FAARC
DepartmentRespiratory Therapy, Marymount Hospital
- Research
- Efficacy of Patient Assessments by Respiratory Therapists
- Hypothesis
- Patient assessments performed by respiratory therapists (RTs) prioritize the need for respiratory care through the use of the triage system. Patient assessments can reduce the number of unnecessary treatments and enable the RTs to prioritize their time to treat and assess other patients.
- Methodology
- Between the months of May and June, patient assessments were collected for the following data: assessment date, start date of treatment, current therapy, frequency of current therapy, changes of therapy made by therapist, comments/diagnosis, and patient’s discharge date. An approximate number of daily treatments saved was determined by comparing the frequency of the current therapy to the frequency of the changed therapy. The amount of days the patient is treated with the changed frequency then determined the total amount of treatments saved because of the patient’s assessment.
- Outcomes
- About 30% of patients per month had a change made to their treatment, resulting in approximately 251.8 hours saved during the two-month study period. The saved hours allowed RTs to provide treatments and complete assessments more effectively. Assessments are an important component of respiratory therapy; they should be completed on a regular basis in order to allow therapists to provide rapid and effective therapy.
Interpretations
Iron Lung by Mike Condrich
Untitled by Sofia Memorich
Torn Lungs by Melissa Sheets
Time Waits for No One by Chris Klimek
