Respiratory Therapy Leaders' Perceptions of Value of Respiratory Care Services.

Background: Respiratory care departments are experiencing an increased need to demonstrate value in the care they deliver. Value efficiency is a concept that incorporates the value of individual treatments into the normal operations of a department. The purpose of this study was to describe respiratory care leaders' attitudes about the value of services provided by respiratory care departments.

Association Between Dead Space to Tidal Volume Ratio and Duration of Respiratory Support After Extubation in Critically Ill Children.

Background: The dead-space-to-tidal-volume ratio (V/V) has been used to successfully predict extubation failure in children who are critically ill. However, a singular reliable measure to predict the level and duration of respiratory support after liberation from invasive mechanical ventilation has remained elusive. The objective of this study was to evaluate the association between V/V and the duration of postextubation respiratory support.

Characteristics, Identification, Training, and Perception of Leaders in Respiratory Care.

Background: Leadership is critical to high-functioning teams; however, data are lacking for what defines successful respiratory therapist (RT) leadership. Leaders need a wide range of skills to be successful, although the exact characteristics, behaviors, and accomplishments of successful RT leaders are unknown. We performed a survey of respiratory care leaders to evaluate different aspects of RT leadership.

Mechanical Ventilation during ECMO: Best Practices.

Adults and children who require extracorporeal membrane oxygenation for respiratory failure remain at risk for ongoing lung injury if ventilator management is not optimized. This review serves as a guide to assist the bedside clinician in ventilator titration for patients on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, with a focus on lung-protective strategies. Existing data and guidelines for extracorporeal membrane oxygenation ventilator management are reviewed, including non-conventional ventilation modes and adjunct therapies.

Enhancing Respiratory Therapists' Well-Being: Battling Burnout in Respiratory Care.

Burnout is a major problem in health care and is associated with adverse sequelae for patients, health care workers, and organizations. Burnout among respiratory therapists (RTs) is as high as 79% and is associated with poor or ineffective leadership, inadequate staffing, high work load, non-leadership position, and work environment. An understanding of burnout is necessary for both staff and leadership to ensure RT well-being.

The Psychological Safety Scale of the Safety, Communication, Operational, Reliability, and Engagement (SCORE) Survey: A Brief, Diagnostic, and Actionable Metric for the Ability to Speak Up in Healthcare Settings.

Objectives: The current study aimed to guide the assessment and improvement of psychological safety (PS) by (1) examining the psychometric properties of a brief novel PS scale, (2) assessing relationships between PS and other safety culture domains, (3) exploring whether PS differs by healthcare worker demographic factors, and (4) exploring whether PS differs by participation in 2 institutional programs, which encourage PS and speaking-up with patient safety concerns (i.e., Safety WalkRounds and Positive Leadership WalkRounds).

Teamwork Before and During COVID-19: The Good, the Same, and the Ugly….

Objectives: The COVID 19 pandemic placed unprecedented strain on healthcare systems and workers, likely also impacting patient safety and outcomes. This study aimed to understand how teamwork climate changed during that pandemic and how these changes affected safety culture and workforce well-being.

Methods: This cross-sectional observational study of 50,000 healthcare workers (HCWs) in 3 large U.

Burnout Among Respiratory Therapists Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Background: Burnout is a major challenge in health care and is associated with poor overall well-being, increased medical errors, worse patient outcomes, and low job satisfaction. There is scant literature focused on the respiratory therapist's (RT) experience of burnout, and a thorough exploration of RTs' perception of factors associated with burnout has not been reported. The aim of this qualitative study was to understand the factors associated with burnout as experienced by RTs amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Factors Associated With a Positive View of Respiratory Care Leadership.

Background: Burnout within health care is prevalent, and its effects are detrimental to patient outcomes, organizations, and individuals. Effects stemming from burnout include anxiety, depression, excessive alcohol and drug use, cardiovascular problems, time off work, and worse patient outcomes. Published data have suggested up to 50% of health care workers experience burnout and 79% of respiratory therapists (RTs) experience burnout.

Mechanical Ventilation and Respiratory Support in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit.

Children admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit often require respiratory support for the treatment of respiratory distress and failure. Respiratory support comprises both noninvasive modalities (ie, heated humidified high-flow nasal cannula, continuous positive airway pressure, bilevel positive airway pressure, negative pressure ventilation) and invasive mechanical ventilation. In this article, we review the various essential elements and considerations involved in the planning and application of respiratory support in the treatment of the critically ill children.

Prevalence of Burnout Among Respiratory Therapists Amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Burnout is a major challenge in health care, but its prevalence has not been evaluated in practicing respiratory therapist (RTs). The purpose of this study was to identify RT burnout prevalence and factors associated with RT burnout. An online survey was administered to 26 centers in the United States and between January and March 2021.

Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation in critically ill neonatal and pediatric patients with acute respiratory failure: a guide for the clinician.

: Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation for neonatal and pediatric respiratory failure continues to demonstrate improving outcomes, largely due to advances in technology along with refined management strategies despite mounting patient acuity and complexity. Successful use of ECMO requires thoughtful initiation and candidacy strategies, along with reducing the risk of ventilator induced lung injury and the progression to multiorgan failure.: This review describes current ECMO management strategies for neonatal and pediatric patients with acute refractory respiratory failure and summarizes relevant published literature.

High-Flow Nasal Cannula in Pediatric Critical Asthma.

Background: High-flow nasal cannula (HFNC) has been used in the treatment of pediatric asthma, although high-quality data comparing HFNC to aerosol mask nebulizer are lacking. We hypothesized that HFNC would perform similarly to the aerosol mask for meaningful clinical outcomes in children with critical asthma.

Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of children with critical asthma (age 2-17 y) with a modified pulmonary index score (MPIS) ≥ 8 admitted to our pediatric ICU as part of a quality improvement project.

High-Frequency Jet Ventilation in Neonatal and Pediatric Subjects: A Narrative Review.

High-frequency ventilation is commonly utilized with neonates and with children with severe respiratory failure. Both high-frequency oscillatory ventilation (HFOV) and high-frequency jet ventilation (HFJV) are used extensively in neonates. HFJV can also be used in older, larger children.

Resilience and Burnout Resources in Respiratory Care Departments.

Background: Burnout is a major problem in health care, with rates of approximately 33% and 50% in nurses and physicians, respectively, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Respiratory therapist (RT) burnout rates and drivers have not been specifically examined. The purpose of this project was to determine resilience and burnout resources available within respiratory care departments and to provide an estimate of pre- and post-COVID-19 RT burnout rates.

Sustained Improvement in Tracheal Intubation Safety Across a 15-Center Quality-Improvement Collaborative: An Interventional Study From the National Emergency Airway Registry for Children Investigators.

Objectives: To evaluate the effect of a tracheal intubation safety bundle on adverse tracheal intubation-associated events across 15 PICUs.

Design: Multicenter time-series study.

Setting: PICUs in the United States.

The New Trainee Effect in Tracheal Intubation Procedural Safety Across PICUs in North America: A Report From National Emergency Airway Registry for Children.

Objectives: Tracheal intubation carries a high risk of adverse events. The current literature is unclear regarding the "New Trainee Effect" on tracheal intubation safety in the PICU. We evaluated the effect of the timing of the PICU fellow academic cycle on tracheal intubation associated events.

Respiratory Therapist Intubation Practice in Pediatric ICUs: A Multicenter Registry Study.

Background: Tracheal intubation by respiratory therapists (RTs) is a well-established practice that has been described primarily in adult and neonatal patients. However, minimal data exist regarding RTs' intubation performance in pediatric ICUs. The purpose of this study was to describe the current landscape of intubations performed by RTs in pediatric ICUs.