A graduate of a medical college can work as a respiratory therapist if he was majoring in pulmonology. To obtain a degree of the respiratory therapist or the pulmonologist one needs to graduate from medical schools with the specialties “General Practice”, “Pediatrics”, “Therapy” or “Phthisiology.”
The course is designed to master the theory and acquire professional skills that will allow performing practical tasks for the successful prevention, diagnosis and treatment of respiratory system diseases.
It is a specialist in all matters regarding the respiratory system diseases and pathologies. During the educational process he studies closely the anatomy of a human being, placing emphasis on the respiratory system.
What does this specialist treat?
- Reply is: our lungs. This specialist is rarely seen in a regular clinic, but this does not mean that he is not in demand. According to statistics, lung diseases occupy the leading positions among the deadly diseases.
Earlier such diseases were treated by therapists and surgeons. Several factors changed the situation: bad ecology, lack of healthy food and smoking. The mortality from so-called chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, the main disease of a smoker, has increased. By the way, this disease is untreatable and worsens the daily life of a patient.
A respiratory therapist often meets a large number of dying and seriously ill patients. The number of them is growing every year, and while environmentalists are sounding the alarm, world medicine needs even more pulmonologists.
This specialist works in polyclinics, in hospitals, conducts ultrasound checks and surgeries. Sometimes this specialist is difficult to find at the desk as for his advice seeks a large number of people. His area of competence includes not only such diseases as chronic obstructive bronchi disease, but also lung cancer, bronchial asthma, pneumonia and other catarrhal diseases.
The pulmonologist often contacts patients with tuberculosis. Despite the fact that this disease has been mainly defeated long ago, it still causes a lot of troubles to humanity. This doctor risks his health, therefore, in his office the rules of sanitary safety are observed. To prevent infection, he uses a white coat and sterile gloves.
A good respiratory therapist often assigns X-ray and tomographic images to his patients. Also he always uses a phonendoscope (an instrument for listening to sounds originating in the body), a pulse oximeter (a device that measures the level of oxygen in the blood), a nebulizer (device for inhalation), an instrument for measuring oxygen oxides and nitrogen oxides (using them he defines whether the lungs work correctly at the moment) and a spirometer (a lung volume measuring device).
