Tag Archives: respiratory

Blow Out the Candles…

If there is any treatment that I feel like gets used in a cookie-cutter fashion, it’s pursed-lip breathing. As much as I hate seeing this technique used for every single patient that has shortness of breath, it does have clinical usefulness. So let’s talk about how to implement pursed-lip breathing properly based on patient presentationContinue reading “Blow Out the Candles…”

View post to subscribe to site newsletter.

COVID-19: Where the Heck Are We?

I started this venture back in March in response to COVID-19. I saw many Physical Therapists and other rehab professionals shutting their doors because it wasn’t safe to keep them open. I saw an opportunity to improve our profession by addressing a deficit in practice: the lack of cardiopulmonary skill implementation. It wasn’t even thatContinue reading “COVID-19: Where the Heck Are We?”

View post to subscribe to site newsletter.

ABGs (Part II)

So, now that you’ve read all the basics about ABGs in the first post, here is a little more about interpreting lab values and how to determine compensated conditions. This is where it gets fun! First off, let’s take a look at what NORMAL lab values probably look like: pH: 7.35-7.45 Partial pressure of oxygenContinue reading “ABGs (Part II)”

ABGs (Part 1)

This is the first post in a two-part series about understanding and interpreting arterial blood gases! If you want the rest of the post, you’ll have to check back next week! I’m getting real science-y again! So, just a heads up: my undergraduate degree was in chemistry. Kind of by accident, I took a lotContinue reading “ABGs (Part 1)”

Aerosol Generating Procedures

The long awaited clarification on aerosol generating procedures for physical therapists and physical therapist assistants has finally dropped! The APTA just released its professional guidelines for what portions of physical therapist and physical therapist assistant care equates to an aerosol generating procedures, therefore requiring increased PPE for procedure performance to ensure clinician safety. On AprilContinue reading “Aerosol Generating Procedures”

The Duet Device

Have you seen an Acapella Duet before? This is another one of those things I wish I could hand out to maybe half of my patients. A Duet device is a special kind of Positive Expiratory Pressure (PEP) that provides resistive oscillatory pressure to exhalation which promotes increased lung volumes due to re-inflation of collapsedContinue reading “The Duet Device”

PPE is the WORST! (aka Levels of Infection Control)

Did you know that PPE is actually the very last level of infection control??? To be honest, I have to admit that I had NO IDEA. Until COVID-19 became the impetus for my increase in research and writing, I had no idea that people other than healthcare professionals and their governing bodies were making anContinue reading “PPE is the WORST! (aka Levels of Infection Control)”

HFNO

HFNO stands for High Flow Nasal Oxygen. This is something that was used frequently in patients who were desaturating quickly with symptoms of COVID-19. It has the ability, through the use of several different devices or setups, to deliver very high concentrations of supplemental oxygen to patients with advanced pulmonary diseases or conditions. In theContinue reading “HFNO”

ECMO

It sounds like a fuzzy lovable Sesame Street character, but this big boy ain’t no joke. ECMO or Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation is basically a lung outside the body. Blood passes through it. CO2 is removed and oxygen is introduced. It sounds simple, but that is the furthest thing from the truth. This is really advancedContinue reading “ECMO”