Staff Spotlight
Respiratory Therapists: inspiring excellence in the profession
The Canadian Society of Respiratory Therapists (CSRT) proclaims the last week in October as Respiratory Therapy Week in Canada, to celebrate the respiratory therapy profession and the outstanding dedication and passion of these health care professionals.
To celebrate Respiratory Therapy Week, we are excited to shine a light on the amazing work of two Respiratory Therapists (RTs) at Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH). This profession works with the most critically ill patients every step of the way - from their entry to the facility (oftentimes through Emergency), throughout their stay in the ICU (intensive care unit) to the recovery wards and hopeful discharge back in the community.
Career growth at VCH
Ingrid Hakanson (pictured left) has been an RT for fifteen years and describes it as an ‘incredibly dynamic, exciting and rewarding career’. “I’ve worked my entire career at VCH both as a bedside RT and as a frontline leader,” she says. “I love how much quick critical thinking in the moment is required in this profession. It keeps the mind sharp and you get to solve puzzles and mysteries as a regular part of the job.”
As the current Professional Practice Leader for Respiratory Therapy at the Richmond Hospital Community of Care, which includes acute care, pulmonary function, community care, and sleep lab, Ingrid helps define and promote standards of practice, aid in staff professional development, and implement evidence-based practice.
“I provide education and bedside guidance here at Richmond, and other RT leaders at VCH and provincially,” she says. “VCH is so exciting to work for because we care for the most complex and diverse patient populations in the province. There are so many opportunities to learn every day, and I get to work with a brilliant interdisciplinary team, many of whom are leaders in their fields.”
“We are all in it together”
Kenny Leung (pictured right) is an RT at Vancouver General Hospital (VGH) and one of the areas he works in is part of the Critical Care Outreach Team (CCOT). This multidisciplinary team consists of an ICU nurse, an RT, and an Intensivist (critical care physician) who can be activated as a resource for clinical support and offer an ICU perspective for care of patients on the wards. “It’s been really exciting to offer that support and tangibly see the prevention of an ICU admission of a patient by helping to catch signs and symptoms early and working together for patient care,” he says.
Kenny tells us that a large factor of being able to work individually as a functioning unit is the fact that the relationships that are built really matter so that you can trust each other’s decision-making. “From there, we find space to learn from each other, and become better together,” he says. “There’s also something about the collective suffering that’s experienced when you’re doing a 2 a.m. admission together. It really grounds you in what you’re doing and we know that we are in it together.”
He shares a fun fact about the RT team at VGH: “Our department works all over the hospital and follows many patients in their various journeys throughout their hospital stay,” he says. “It can be really fulfilling to see a patient who was super sick in ICU progress to being rehabilitated and regaining their semblance of quality of life.”
oneVCH Award: Learning Together
The Respiratory Therapy Regional Clinical Education and Professional Practice team is a 2023 recipient of the oneVCH Award of Excellence: Learning Together in recognition of the launch of the Employed Student Respiratory Therapist (ESRT) Program, the first of its kind in Canada.
The ESRT program at VCH provides student RTs with paid work experience to learn in a real-life healthcare environment, share their knowledge with different healthcare team members, and bring new energy to all the areas participating in the program.
“It took a lot of creativity, collaboration and partnerships between the Allied Health Professional Practice team and Allied Health Clinical Education team,” says Elan Nattrass, Regional Practice Initiatives Lead. “I have a lot of gratitude and appreciation for how thoughtful and creative people were on this project. We identified a need and took a truly unique approach to a really successful fruition. I have so much admiration for my colleagues.”
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