Respiratory

Respiratory 

• "My"Responsibilities: Travel around the hospital and help patients with respiratory problems on all floors 
• New Knowledge: I learned about some of the different methods of administering oxygen, why patients need a higher percentage of oxygen, and what happens if they don't get it.
• Best Thing: The best thing was talking to the guy that I was following because he was a great teacher/mentor
• Worst Thing: Seeing someone's dead body be taken out of the hospital room
• Overall: Great because the respiratory therapist was very nice and I find respiratory diseases very interesting.

• Finding the respiratory area was difficult at first, and initially, I went to the cardiopulmonary area for this rotation. Surprisingly, I was luck that this happened, because in order to get into the respiratory room I needed to go up an employee elevator (that needed an employee's ID to work) and a code to enter the room. I was surprised by how much security they had for the room because the only other place with serious security was the NICU/Nursery and Labor and Delivery area. I guess it makes sense though because there are no patients in the respiratory room since all of the respiratory therapists go to different areas of the hospital to see their patients instead of the patients coming to them. I liked that aspect of respiratory because having a change of scenery every day would keep me from getting too bored. 
• The diagnostic procedures consisted of the respiratory therapist checking the patient's oxygen levels and looking for abnormal behavior (like slurring or looking faint). One of the patients was an overweight middle-aged woman, and she was in the hospital because she had sleep apnea. She was also not getting enough oxygen, which was causing her to pass out and act very loopy. 
• No diseases or disorders observed.
• Alveoli- a small air sac in the lungs, where oxygen and carbon dioxide are exchanged with the blood
• Pleura- a thin lining that surrounds the lung and lines the inside of the chest wall
• Obesity hypoventilation syndrome- Extra weight on the chest and abdomen makes it difficult for the chest to expand. 

1. The respiratory rotation was awesome because the respiratory therapists travel throughout the entire hospital and they can see a huge variety of patients every day. While I was there, there was a lot going on and I learned that the respiratory therapists were in charge of different floors every time they came to work. One day they might be assigned to the ICU and the next they might be in charge of all of the cases in the NICU. The doctors and nurses have to be ready for any sudden complication at any time, so they are all very well prepared and fast-paced. However, even though it was a fast paced area, the respiratory therapists seemed calm no matter what was thrown at them. The atmosphere in the room was also much more relaxed than any other unit that I have visited.
2. The therapists were all very comfortable with each other, and they would crack jokes with each other and with me. The man I followed also seemed to know nearly everyone that we saw in the hospital, which is something that I would like in the future when I'm working. They communicated with each other very well and they were comfortable admitting when they were uneasy about a case. The environment was very casual, and the nurses always seemed to be joking with one another. They seemed like a very fun, experienced, and welcoming community of healthcare professionals. 
3. I learned a lot about how respiratory problems can affect the entire body (because having an excess of carbon dioxide in your body throws of the internal pH, and you fall out of homeostasis) and how pulmonary edema actually kills. I now know that pulmonary edema is often caused by congestive heart failure. The heart has to strain to work properly, then a muscle in the heart dies (which is congestive heart failure) and then the blood in the heart is flushed backward and into the lungs. 
4. Respiratory was by far my favorite unit that I've been to in the hospital. I thought that I would find it interesting because the lungs are fascinating to me, but I didn't expect to like it nearly as much as I did. I think that it was a mixture of being able to travel around the hospital, the great respiratory therapists, and the fact that I could actually see myself going into the respiratory field. I would absolutely love to go back to the respiratory unit.