Respiratory therapy leaders provide insight at Medline Advisory Board Meeting

The pandemic placed a shining a new light on the unique skill sets of respiratory therapists (RT). Still, the healthcare industry has been witnessing a shortage of respiratory therapists, much like nurses and other specialties. Recent data from the American Association for Respiratory Care shows:

• More than 92,000 RTs are expected to retire by 2030
• 93% of RTs say burnout is a major issue
• 10% of RT programs are at capacity today

The dynamic has led to ongoing conversations about how RTs are building upon the increased visibility in their sector to continue enhancing their work and the patient experience. To this end, Medline brought together respiratory care leaders from health systems across the country to meet with product development and engineering teams at its annual respiratory therapy advisory board meeting. The meeting's objectives were to:

• Discuss industry trends and challenges
• Explore opportunities that are shaping the healthcare landscape today
• Collaborate with RT leaders about the latest innovations Medline has to offer

"Respiratory clinicians play an integral part of the overall care team responsible for patient's experiencing respiratory distress. As industry partners, it is vital that we provide respiratory leaders a voice in the tools needed to positively impact patient care and caregiver efficiency," said Donna Mosakowski, vice president of respiratory for Medline. "Their insights allows Medline to shape our offering to best fit their needs and allows our dedicated team of respiratory sales specialists to continue to be strong partners for our customers."

Juan Martinez, clinical manager of respiratory care and pulmonary services at Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami Beach, said he appreciated how "Medline is valuing the end user's experience and leveraging our feedback to enhance or develop solutions that will help us meet or exceed the standard of care. The advisory board is refreshing and is important to all of the participants."

During the meeting, Robert Sigler, RRT, FACHE, Director of Respiratory Therapy and the Pulmonary Laboratory at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, N.J., part of RWJBarnabas Health, said he was eager to collaborate with Medline in the development of future respiratory therapy products and services, describing RTs as the original MacGyver. "Whatever we needed we'd build it ourselves," he said.

"Those on the front lines need to work closely with manufacturers to figure out what truly brings value to the patient," Sigler continued. "The advisory board gives me the opportunity to provide feedback on product innovations before they're submitted to the FDA."

Michael Nay, director of respiratory care at Yale New Haven Hospital in New Haven, Conn., shared that the pandemic helped evolve conversations past a focus on productivity benchmarking and the financial bottom line to how respiratory care can play an important, continuous role in patient-centered care.

"As RT leaders, we need to dig into this opportunity and advocate for our teams to be empowered to focus on providing value-based care and move away from the task-oriented delivery model," he said.

Nay said he plans to bring the idea of custom packing back to his team at Yale New Haven Hospital and how this might drive greater time efficiency. "I want to explore what would make sense to bundle and pull at one time to save time and storage space," he said.

"It was great to get live feedback from the clinicians on our prototypes for products under development. We confirmed many of our requirements, but also changed some product attributes based directly on their input. The end result will be products that better suit the user needs of respiratory therapists and patients," said Dan Dwyer, director of product development for respiratory at Medline.

Learn about Medline's portfolio of solutions to help advance and elevate respiratory care.