I just returned from the annual meeting of respiratory therapists (RTs) in San Antonio. RTs are the professionals who traditionally work with pulmonary specialist physicians caring for
hospitalized patients on mechanical ventilators and those needing breathing treatments. However, during the last decade, RTs have expanded their roles to providing a broad spectrum of outpatient
services for patients with many types of lung diseases. A primary care physician can directly ask the RT for help with these services, including pulmonary rehab, smoking cessation, asthma education, spirometry, long-term oxygen therapy, and home monitoring and treatment for sleep apnea.

If you are new to a community and have asthma or COPD and want to know the best pulmonary specialist for your care, I think that a local RT will steer you to the best pulmonologist, based on their experiences with most of the doctors in your new community. RTs are easily found by going to your local hospital and asking for the RT department (often in the basement, because that’s where the ventilators were traditionally stored).

Related Topics: COPD Treatment, Asthma May Raise Risk of COPD, Emphysema