The Department of Respiratory Therapy provides Respiratory Therapy Services in the Cardiac Surgery Intensive Care Unit (CSICU). Services are also supported throughout the hospital including Medical Surgical Intensive Care (MSICU), Operating Room (OR), Wards and Emergency. Employment in the Respiratory Therapy Department can be obtained upon graduation from an accredited Registered Respiratory Therapy Program and membership with the College of Respiratory Therapists of Ontario (CRTO). The Respiratory Therapist (RRT) works closely with other members of the multidisciplinary team.
The CSICU is under the umbrella of critical care. As a member of the Respiratory Therapy Department, your workload will be distributed evenly between CSICU, MSICU and Wards. On-call services are offered to Emergency. The OR is staffed during weekdays and on-call on weekends and nights.
New staff complete a four-week full hospital orientation of all areas. Responsibilites in CSICU include initiation, maintenance and weaning off ventilation, hemodynamic monitoring as well as bronchoscopy and tracheostomy assistance. Weaning off ventilation (including extubation) is the responsibility of the RRT using a rapid wean algorithm. Certification programs are available for intubation, tracheotomy tube changes and radial artery blood gas sampling and cannulation.
