Interdisciplinary Interaction

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Working as a respiratory therapist (RT) I feel like my profession interacts with many professions on a daily basis. Since RTs work in every area of the hospital, I see a lot of people in the run of a day including patients, co-workers and other health care professionals. Generally, RTs are covering multiple areas/units with many patients and health care professionals providing care.

On a daily basis I am working alongside physicians and nurses. For example, in ICU we participate in daily rounds, making daily plans and discharge criteria for patients. In these rounds we also work with dieticians and physiotherapists. Dieticians work alongside RTs primarily for patients that are intubated/sedated and can not eat by mouth. These patients need to be started on feeds but only when okay to do so. When patients are extubated, breathing tube removed, I would perform a swallowing assessment to make sure the patient is okay to take medications or food by mouth without aspirating. Patients that have tracheostomy tubes would also need to be seen by a dietician to decide on the best feeding method and when it is appropriate to start feeds.

I have worked alongside physiotherapists in ICU and patient wards. Mobilizing patients is a priority for everyone and shown to have shorter hospital stays and earlier discharges. When a patient is intubated, it is still important to mobilize them if possible. Walking and sitting patients that are intubated and still on ventilators is done in conjunction with a physiotherapist, RT and nursing staff.

During the corona virus pandemic, proning patients was something done frequently in the intensive care units. This requires placing a critically ill patient on their stomach for sixteen hours then flipping them to their back to help with oxygenation. Usually, these patients are intubated or have a tracheostomy tube. This process is done with an RT managing the head/airway/ventilator, 3 nurses to manage the lines/torso, usually a physiotherapist if this procedure is done during the day to make sure the patient is positioned in swimmers position and usually a physician to be in the unit in case the patient codes or medications need to be administered.  This is one example of how the health care team comes together to care for one patient, and how teamwork and communication is key in performing this maneuver safely.

In my day to day work, there are numerous ways that I collaborate with other health care providers. As mentioned above, these are just a few examples and few professions I work with in my hospital. It is important to have effective comminucation, collaboration with all members of the health care team as we are usually caring for critically ill patients and there is no room for error or break in the communication loop.

Image: What is a Clinical Care Team? | Elation (elationhealth.com)