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Respiratory therapists are key figures in fight against coronavirus

BOSTON — Massachusetts General Hospital employs close to 100 respiratory therapists, and now more than ever their valuable help inside hospitals is crucial as this pandemic continues.

“You talk to any health professional that works inside a hospital and they will tell you how much they depend on a respiratory therapist to do what they do,” said Edward Burns, a retired respiratory therapist.

As the fast-spreading virus continues to infect so many, hospitalizing patients and putting them in intensive care, health care specialists trained in cardio-respiratory illnesses are busier than ever.

“Their workload is already starting to increase from what I’ve heard,” Burns said.

Burns, a former quality improvement coordinator for the Respiratory Care department at Mass General said there are about 3,500 respiratory therapists working in Massachusetts.

"Everything from just administering oxygen to breathing treatments to delivering aerosolized medications for patients – whether they’re asthma patients, pneumonia patients, older patients with cardiac illnesses with fluid filling up their lungs," Burns said.

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Burns said Boston hospitals like Mass General have been calling on retired or per diem respiratory therapists to help on the front lines.

Many infected patients must be attached to ventilators. He said hospitals now have a normal supply and they may need more soon, and going along with that, the experts who can manage those patients properly.

“They have to watch blood work, oxygen levels, pressures, they look at wave forms on a ventilator screen to look at the breathing patterns and they’re constantly monitoring to see if they need to make any adjustments – so it’s very very important member of the health care team especially for these ventilated patients,” Burns said.

As healthcare workers on the front lines are feeling the pressure from heavy workloads, Burns says patients can take comfort knowing they’re receiving the best care.

“They’re out there, they’re on the job and they can rest assured that if they have to go to the hospital there’s going to be a whole team of highly sophisticated professionals taking care of them,” Burns said.

He said respiratory therapists work in sleep labs, home care and rehab clinics, not just hospitals, topping more than 140,000 of those professionals in the entire country.

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