Respiratory Therapy at The Hospital for Sick Children
At The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids), the Department of Respiratory Therapy is committed to providing excellence and leadership in paediatric cardio-respiratory care, education and research.       
SickKids has 110 registered Respiratory Therapists (RTs) ­– health professionals specially trained to help infants, children and youth with respiratory or breathing disorders. They provide breathing and oxygen support to SickKids patients who have trouble getting enough oxygen into their blood because of prematurity, a breathing problem, a heart condition or trauma.

At SickKids, RTs are involved actively involved in clinical care, research and education, but many of their activities are dependent on donor support. RTs ensure that SickKids’ most fragile patients have access to the cornerstone of life: air. They need your support to help them help the sickest of the sick on their path to help. Give the most essential gift you can – support respiratory research at SickKids.
Research

Recently there has been a steep incline in research activity for RTs at SickKids, with many individuals participating in protocol development, multi-centre study co-ordination, patient recruitment and publications. SickKids RTs are currently involved in over 15 research projects, including studies on:

• Respiratory failure after cardiac surgery,
• Acute bronchiolotis,
• Environmental and genetic factors of asthma and allergy,
• Pre-term breathing difficulties, and
• Cystic fibrosis.

RTs at SickKids have published more than seven publications and presented internationally more than five times over the past four years. At home, at SickKids, or in the community, research is constantly altering the way that specialists provide care, ensuring that sick children have access to the very best breathing support. Research informs clinical practice which is essential for so many patients’ survival.

Clinical
As part of their clinical practice, RTs assess a patient’s breathing needs and make use of the most appropriate breathing treatment. The most commonly used treatment is mechanical ventilation, which is a machine that does the work of the lungs or provides support to the lungs. In particular, it helps patients resume breathing after surgery. RTs are also experts in extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), which provides cardiac as well as pulmonary support (heart and lung).

RTs are responsible for continually evaluating cardio-respiratory function, watching for improvement or deterioration, doing blood work to determine how much oxygen and carbon dioxide are present, monitoring blood chemistry and number of white and red blood cells and adjusting a patient’s ventilator. SickKids is a referral site for many of Ontario’s sickest children who use the Acute Care Transport Service (include air ambulance). The ACTS team includes nine RTs who ensure that these sickest children travel safely to the hospital.