Name ______

Respiratory Therapy – 50 Informal Points

Introduction

A baby comes into the world too early and her lungs are not yet fully developed. An elderly man who has smoked for years now finds himself gasping for breath. A teenage boy who has always struggled with asthma wants to improve his ability to play team sports. A young woman pulled out of the water after a near drowning finds it painful to take in and expel air.

All of the patients described above need assistance getting sufficient amounts of oxygen into their lungs and out to their cells. When a patient has trouble breathing and utilizing oxygen, a specialist called a respiratory therapist is often called upon to provide treatment and support. Without oxygen, our bodies would shut down in a matter of minutes. This vital gas fuels our cells and provides a necessary raw material for the creation of energy. Respiratory therapists work to manage both short-term and long-term oxygen crises and to assure that this resource is readily available to our bodies.

In this activity, you will explore another biomedical career area by writing a resume for a fictional respiratory therapist. A resume is a document that expresses a career objective as well as presents skills and experience to a potential employer. This resume will showcase the education, experience, and skills of this highly trained biomedical professional and will highlight the goals of respiratory therapy. As you work on the resume for a respiratory therapist, reflect on your own career aspirations and think about how you would go about writing your own resume and marketing your skills to a potential employer. Finally, play the role of a respiratory therapist to help your patient, Melissa Martin, get a better handle on her asthma and design a plan to manage her illness.

Procedure

Part I: Respiratory Therapist Resume

  1. Research all aspects of the training and day-to-day duties of a respiratory therapist. Begin compiling information you can use to compose a resume for a fictional respiratory therapist. Take a minimum of one full page of notes (either hand written or typed,) thenfollows the next steps to guide you to create the resume as a career journal. You will make the actual journal in step #7.Sample resumes are attached to this packet to be used as a model. Both the notes and resume go in the “Career Journals” section of your binder.
  2. In the space below, describe the types of information that are included in a resume and list the major headings.
  • The purpose of a resume is to make yourself look qualified and capable for the position or school you are trying to get into. Even if you do not yet have relevant experience making a resume of all you’ve done with your life so far shows your motivation, determination and desire to be a positive, contributing member of society.
  • Ex. James want to be an engineer. He is graduating high school with a 3.8 GPA, ran track all 4 years, and worked a part time job at a pizza shop as well as volunteering at his local church during his summer vacations. At the moment James does not have engineering experience but his resume tells colleges that he is an active member of society and a hard worker.
  • Main categories include: Your contact information, Objective, Education, Experience & Skills, Activities, Awards, References with their contact information and anything else relevant that will make the candidate qualified. A short description in the form of a sentence or bullet points typically accompanies each listing to describe how this makes you more qualified.
  • The goal is to be the MOST qualified so make yourself look as good as possible on a resume!
  • Make it concise and to the point, but meaningful.
  1. Review the presentation on resume writing produced by the Purdue University Writing Lab attached to the back of this packet.
  2. Visit the Online Writing Lab at Purdue University – Workplace Writers at .
  3. Scroll down to Employment Documents – The Resume and Curriculum Vitae (CV).
  4. Read the information presented in the Resume Design section as well as in the four resume building reference sections that follow.
  5. Combine information from your research on respiratory therapy and on writing an effective resume to design a resume for a fictional respiratory therapist. Make sure to include a clear objective, information about education and work experience, as well as any other information you feel will be helpful in showcasing skills to an employer. Think about the type of job your fictional therapist is trying to obtain and tailor the resume to really sell the experience and skills of this professional.
  6. Type your resume. Follow the formatting guidelines and options presented in the power point notes posted on schoolwires, and sample resumes. Make sure to proofread your final product.
  7. Compare your resume to that of another student in the class. In the space below compare the similarities and differences between your resume and your peer’s resume.

Similarities / Differences

Part II – Asthma Action

Asthma control focuses on two factors – reducing impairment and reducing risk. Asthmatics strive to prevent symptoms, maintain normal lung function, reduce the need for emergency care, and prevent loss of lung function. To maintain this control, asthmatics need to regularly take the appropriate medication, recognize and avoid environmental stresses that may cause worsened symptoms, monitor long term control, and work with professionals to adjust therapy as needed.

You have now been hired as a respiratory therapist.Your first case is to work with Melissa Martin, a young woman who has been inconsistent with her asthma treatment, to discuss her illness and develop an asthma action plan. Review Melissa’s medical history to familiarize yourself with the case.

  1. Read the interview with a respiratory therapist attached to the back of this packet to being thinking about the role respiratory therapists play in helping patients with asthma. In the space below, add additional notes about how the duties of the career may link to diseases such as asthma.
  • Read over the interview article (attached to packet) a few times and know all information presented in it.
  1. Obtain Melissa’s Medical History – Visit #4 Resource Sheet.
  2. Review the additional patient history for Melissa Martin.
  1. Research the role of an asthma action plan. Begin to think about how this type of document could help Melissa. Record notes in the space below.
  • An asthma action plan (or management plan) is a written plan that you develop with your or your child's doctor to help control your or your child's asthma. The goal of an asthma action plan is to reduce or prevent flare-ups and emergency department visits through day-to-day management.
  1. Obtain an Asthma Action Plan template for Melissa.
  2. Looking back on your work in this lesson, fill in the action plan for Melissa. Think about her peak flow ranges from a past activity and refer to her medications. Re-read all of the Medical History Resource Sheets and identify Melissa’s main triggers for asthma and list in the space below.
  1. Complete the Action Plan on the back ofMelissa’s Medical History #4 resource sheet.
  2. Add 1-2 paragraphs in the Recommendations section of the Medical History resource sheet that describes next steps for Melissa in her life with asthma. Mention key aspects of the plan, lifestyle modifications, as well as the consequences for not adhering to what has been outlined. Decide on an appropriate schedule for follow up visits, including what is to be accomplished at these sessions.

Conclusion Questions

  1. Describe the components of an effective resume.

Copied from #2 in procedure:

  • The purpose of a resume is to make yourself look qualified and capable for the position or school you are trying to get into. Even if you do not yet have relevant experience making a resume of all you’ve done with your life so far shows your motivation, determination and desire to be a positive, contributing member of society.
  • Ex. James want to be an engineer. He is graduating high school with a 3.8 GPA, ran track all 4 years, and worked a part time job at a pizza shop as well as volunteering at his local church during his summer vacations. At the moment James does not have engineering experience but his resume tells colleges that he is an active member of society and a hard worker.
  • Main categories include: Your contact information, Objective, Education, Experience & Skills, Activities, Awards, References with their contact information and anything else relevant that will make the candidate qualified. A short description in the form of a sentence or bullet points typically accompanies each listing to describe how this makes you more qualified.
  • The goal is to be the MOST qualified so make yourself look as good as possible on a resume!
  1. Explain how the career area of respiratory therapy relates to our study of oxygen and lung volumes. Provide an example that illustrates your point.

Respiratory therapists diagnose respiratory problems and counsel patients as well as provide treatment. They are highly experienced and skilled in breathing. See additional notes at the end of this key for some of the information they have mastered.

  1. Play the role of the respiratory therapist and explain to Melissa what is happening inside her body during an asthma attack. Help her see the consequences of improperly controlled asthma.

The airway gets inflamed and secretions (fluid), are released into the airway. These changes make it difficult to breathe. An asthma attack may include coughing, chest tightness, wheezing, and trouble breathing. The attack happens in your body's airways, which are the paths that carry air to your lungs. This may get worse and worse if no intervention is taken, such as medication via an inhaler. If asthma is poorly controlled the airways and alveoli eventually become stiff, which is irreversible and permanently impairs breathing and oxygen absorption. When the body does not receive enough oxygen the cells do not get enough oxygen and cell respiration is reduced meaning the cells cannot make the needed ATP, which reduces cell and body functioning.

  1. Describe two other situations where a person might work with a respiratory therapist.

Any respiratory illness…bronchitis, emphysema, lung cancer, smokers cough, etc..

Additional Notes:

  1. Why do we need oxygen?
  2. Oxygen is needed for cell respiration and energy metabolism.
  3. How much air does the average human breathe in and out?
  4. Humans breathe in and out approximately 15 to 20 times per minute, or on average about 22,000 breaths per day.
  5. How efficient are our lungs at capturing oxygen from the air?
  6. We do not absorb all of the oxygen we breathe into our lungs, nor do we use our entire lung capacity with each breath we take. A typical human uses about 10% of their lung capacity at rest. 21% of the air around us is oxygen and the air we breathe out is about 15% oxygen. Another statistic is that we use about 25% of the oxygen in the air and expel about 75% of it.
  7. How do we measure lung capacity?
  8. Using a spirometer.
  9. How much air can average human lungs hold?
  10. Tidal volume is the amount of air taken into the lungs in a single breath. In the average adult, tidal volume is about 0.5 liters. However, the lungs can hold a total of about 4-6 liters, which is close to ten times the tidal volume. This amount is known as the vital capacity.

*Don’t forget that hypoxia occurs when blood oxygen saturation falls below 90%. In a healthy individual blood oxygen saturation should be 100%, but may fall a little low (99% or 98%) due to illness, but should be restored upon recovery. Becoming hypoxic can be dangerous, especially if the condition persists over time, because body cells deprived of oxygen cause the organs they are part of to not function. This can be very bad in the brain, heart, and other vital organs.

Asthma Action Plan

  • Be familiar with this plan. Know peak flow, medications, symptoms, etc…
  • Correction: Personal best peak flow should be 275 L/min