Blood Lab. Values

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Happy Saturday everyone.
Hope you are enjoying your Thanksgiving long weekend in Canada. To everyone exposed to Hurricane Matthew, I hope you are safe.

I wanted to remind myself of a normal blood lab value, and my Google search lead me to this useful document from Fraser Health 2011 (Anita Dickson, LPN, PID) :
http://lpnabc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/004-LabsDiagnosticsManual-1-hour.pdf
The mentioned document has three different categories of Chemistry , Hematology and Urine Tests.  For each test, the author has included Normal Findings, Indications, Test Explanation, Interfering Factors, and Test Results and Clinical Significance (i.e. Causes of increased/decreased levels).

(For EDUCATIONAL purposes. If you plan to use this resource for your clinical practice, I STRONGLY recommend double checking the accepted values with your facility guidelines.)

Resources for RT Week 2016

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Today is Monday October 3rd, 2016.  A reminder that Respiratory Therapy Week is  20 days away (October 23 to October 29, 2016).  Respiratory therapists, individually and part of an interprofessional team, contribute in prevention, diagnosis and management of cardiopulmonary disorders and diseases.  It is important to recognize and share the contributions of this field and respiratory therapists.  I encourage you to get involved with the RT Week.  Check out  CSRT’s website for a list of ideas and resources.    http://www.csrt.com/rt-week-guide/

#IAmRT #RTweek #RTweek2016

rtweek
Photo by F.R. 

The Power Of A Great Team

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theteam

Today our PFT clinic survived a clinical audit.  I have been anticipating this day from the moment I got hired, which was around one year and three months ago.  I was hired to replace the Lead RRT/Chief Technologist.  To excel in this new role, I spent a lot of time studying and learning about ATS and IHF (independent health facility) recommendations/guidelines.   As some of you may know, a lot of effort is required to implement and continue standards of practice in a clinic.  Over my employment in this clinic, I have worked with various RRTs and Respiratory Technicians.  The success of today’s audit is purely due to a great team effort.  I work within a team who cares about their work and that includes: the clinic, the patients, the drive to learn and to grow, and the growth of the team.  Even during the audit Viral Patel, Grace Fontanilla and myself were taking notes and were listening to constructive criticism provided by Mr. Bernie Ho and Dr. Raymond Gottschalk.  Thank you Viral and Grace for making my first audit as a chief technologist/Lead RRT, an easy and successful one!

-Farzad ‘Raffi’ Refahi RRT CRE HBSc

 

Happy Learning

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I get really excited when I come across individuals, groups and organizations that work hard to provide quality resources for health care providers.  There are plenty of them out there! Recently I came across OLEPAP.ca.
” The Lung Association’s Provider Education Program (PEP), funded by The Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care (MoHLTC), has a mandate to develop, implement and evaluate accredited continuing medication education (CME) programs and materials that promote the Canadian Thoracic Society (CTS) respiratory guidelines. ” (1).

You can view variety of information such as information about workshops, conferences, Online Learning/modules, work-related Asthma, Spirometry, and additional resources.

I strongly encourage you to check out this page.  This post is expressing my personal opinion (no conflict of interest).

Happy Learning!

olapeptweet

1. Provider Education Program. The Lung Association – Ontario. Welcome. http://olapep.ca/welcome/