Role of nurse with pt. needing respiratory therapy

KIAN · Feb 16, 2006

Are you administering the treatment or is someone else? If you are giving the therapy watch for pulse rate indicating possible adverse reaction and breath sounds before and after to determine if it is effective.

If a respiratory practitioner is giving the therapy, they should be responsible for the therapy.

Yes, this is the first time I have posted.

futurenp · Feb 16, 2006

Hello and thanks for the reply. The respiratory therapist is performing the treatment. I need to know what the nurse would need to do before, during and after the procedure.

CoffeeRTC, BSN, RN · Feb 16, 2006

Okay...so in LTC (except for those with vents or sub acute) there is no RTs. Medicare changes took care of that years ago. So the nurses are the ones doing the nebs and inhalers. To be honest, I can't beleive they really used RTs years ago in LTC, well, it was nice when we would have the trach pts. So what i do is assess prior, aminister then reassess. Listnen to lung sounds, check resp rate, and maybe a pulse ox, assess overall resp status, skin color,resp rate and rhythem. Normally I have between 6-8 neb tx that I 'm doing q 4 hr and prn, so there is no way that I stick around for the duration of the neb tx.

KIAN · Feb 17, 2006

With the respiratory therapist doing the therapy the nurses role is be aware that a treatment was given. The therapist will leave the room when done. If there are any delayed reactions to the therapy you will be the first to recognize them. You will also then know when the next one is due or if you're patient requires them more often. The therapist is a professional and licensed in many states. They are responsible for the patients' well being during the therapy. Hope this helps.