“Inhale, exhale, repeat.” How often do you think about your breathing?
A Respiratory Therapist (RT) is an allied health professional who works in multi-disciplinary teams to assess, plan and monitor treatment for patients with respiratory disorders. RTs in Singapore General Hospital (SGH) provide airway and breathing support to patients in a variety of healthcare settings, from the specialist outpatient clinic to the intensive care unit. Every day is different as RTs are called upon to rapidly respond to patients in respiratory failure or cardiac arrest.
Working as a RT in a large academic medical centre that provides tertiary acute care is challenging and rewarding. RTs keep up-to-date with international clinical practice guidelines to provide evidence-based care for adult patients from a wide range of specialties. Putting the patients’ best interests at heart, RTs collaborate with doctors, nurses and other allied health professionals to deliver high quality holistic care. The hard work is paid off when my patients breathe better and eventually get discharged from the hospital in good health.
As experienced providers of respiratory care to the patients, RTs are well-positioned to educate other healthcare professionals on their complementary roles in patient care. There are also many opportunities for inter-professional education in SGH, and continuing medical education at courses and conferences. RTs are in the Department of Respiratory & Critical Care Medicine and work closely with respiratory physicians on research publications and clinical services planning.
A good RT is someone who is compassionate, resilient, attentive to detail and able to perform under stressful situations. I believe that the clinical services, education and research opportunities available in SGH make it an attractive organization for RTs to pursue an exciting and satisfying career.
