About the Department

Scope of Practice

For information on employment opportunities at Duke Hospital, please review the online postings at Duke Human Resources.

Duke is licensed for 1000 + inpatient beds. The Respiratory Care Services Department provides service 24/7/365 throughout the hospital to:

all intermediate care areas
seven adult intensive care units
the emergency department
the operating rooms
the hyperbaric chambers
neonatal and pediatric intensive care units
infant stabilization
labor and delivery

In addition to traditional therapies, our advanced practice includes:

Extra Corporeal Life Support (ECLS)
Airway Intubation
Nitric oxide delivery
Heliox delivery
Arterial- line Insertion
High Frequency Oscillatory Ventilation (HFOV)
Hyperbaric Medicine
Bronchoscopy
Mechanical Ventilation Management
Pulmonary Rehabilitation

High Quality Patient Care

This starts by hiring the best therapists. Specific attention is paid to fostering the relationship between the therapist and the physician.

Core Teams are assigned to each intensive care area and the emergency department. The therapist makes patient care rounds with the unit attending and implements the necessary steps for mechanically ventilated patients. The therapist will either include the patient in our established protocols or customize care for optimal choice of technology and therapeutic objectives.

An Assessor Team reviews all physician orders for intermediate care. As consultants, we will make the necessary changes to the original physician order; either by enrolling the patient in an established protocol or by discussing options with the physician. The core and assessor teams provide consistent resources for the physician. This evolves into a trust that rallies mutual respect and autonomy for the therapists.

Research

Opportunities are available for all therapists interested in the research process: organize the study; collect the data; and write-up the results. Duke therapists have presented abstracts at professional meetings of the American Association for Respiratory Care National Congress, the American College of Chest Physicians, the American Thoracic Society, the Society for Critical Care Medicine and the North Carolina for Society for Respiratory Care.

The RCS department participates in development and clinical investigation for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), pharmaceutical companies, foundations and equipment manufacturers.

Education

Active participation in department educational activities is an expectation of all respiratory care practitioners. The department provides continuing education opportunities for its staff members in the form of in-service presentations, skill workshops, and monthly grand rounds.

Therapists new to Duke Hospital have an opportunity to expand their knowledge, acquire new skills, and expand their scope of clinical practice by participating in the department's certification programs.

Motivated therapists who demonstrate the requisite knowledge, skills, and clinical leadership behaviors are afforded an opportunity to climb the department's "clinical ladder."

For therapists who enjoy teaching, opportunities exist to participate in department educational programs as well as programs provided to physicians, nurses, and other allied health providers both at Duke Hospital and at international meetings.