AARC Explores Pathway Guides are your guides to the content of each series. Pathway Guides show you topics, speakers, content descriptions, and release dates for each video in the series.
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2024 Pathway Guide
Pathway 1 | Breathe In Possibility, Breathe Out Purpose
Lecturer: Sharon Newport, CAE
An inspiring presentation to align the power of the individual care provider and collective impact of the respiratory therapy profession. When ME and WE align we can wield the power of the individual and the community to help transform lives and make a lasting impact. Leave this presentation with a fresh perspective that will open your heart and your mind to new possibilities and a renewed purpose.
Pathway 2 | Ventilator Associated Pneumonia, COVID-19, and the Path Forward
Lecturer: Michael Klompas, MD, MPH
This lecture will present the current state of the art regarding the ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) and the ventilator-associated event ( VAE) definitions. The speaker will discuss the impact of COVID-19 on VAP and the VAE framework moving forward. VAE definitions have perplexed respiratory therapists and other health care professionals with the relationship to VAP. This talk will demystify this relationship and the definitions and provide an evidence-based review of VAP prevention.
Pathway 3 | A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Story of Home Oxygen Therapy
Lecturer: Mike Hess, MPH, RRT, RPFT
Oxygen therapy has been a mainstay therapy for severe respiratory conditions for decades. However, a series of policy decisions over the last 25 years has constrained research, innovation, and advancement in this space. That, in turn, has led to barriers to access and even patients’ basic understanding of their therapy.
This presentation will review the path to our present land of confusion, the current state of oxygen therapy, and why ongoing advocacy efforts to modernize the delivery of this vital therapeutic are so critical. After all, everybody needs oxygen, but some bodies need a little extra!
Pathway 4 | 50+ Years as an RT: Lessons Learned
Lecturer: Dean Hess, PhD, RRT, FAARC
The profession has changed dramatically over the past 50 years. This presentation highlights ways that respiratory care has changed, and lessons learned along the way. “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”– George Santayana, The Life of Reason, 1905.
Pathway 5 | Electrical Impedance Tomography: Research and Clinical Applications
Lecturer: Brian Ring, PhD, MSc, RRT, RRT-ACCS, RRT-NPS
Electrical impedance tomography (EIT) is a non-invasive imaging technique that visualizes the distribution of electrical conductivity within the body. In the context of the lung, EIT is utilized to measure the impedance changes that occur from air and blood volume variations during breathing. As an emerging monitoring technique in the United States, and among the seemingly endless array of physiological parameters that the respiratory therapist must navigate, this presentation will approach the application of lung-EIT pragmatically as a research and clinical tool.
Pathway 6 | Ventilatory Support in Brain Injured Patients
Lecturer: Richard Branson, MSc, RRT, FAARC
Approximately 20% of patients requiring mechanical ventilation have suffered a brain injury. This presentation will help the learner understand the components of ‘Brain-Lung Crosstalk’ and list the important aspects of a lung protective approach in brain injured patients.
Pathway 7 | The Key to a Strong RT Future – Competency Assessment
Lecturer: Sarah M. Varekojis, PhD, RRT, RRT-ACCS, FNAP, FAARC
Whether you realize it or not, and regardless of your role as an RT, competency assessment touches your professional life. Competency assessment is about ensuring a desired result. It is about demonstrating your capabilities. Because of this, competence breeds success and confidence, two elements necessary for advancing the RT profession. The AARC has published a robust Strategic Plan that is designed to move the RT profession into the post-COVID era. They describe five main areas of focus, including Engage, Elevate, Advocate, Educate, and Organize. Embedded in the Elevate and Educate areas of focus are tactics like promote the value of RTs, advance education and credentialing of RTs, support evidence-based learning opportunities, and promote the art and science of RT. This presentation will discuss competency assessment as one of the keys to accomplishing the aspirations set forth in the AARC Strategic Plan and preparing RTs to take advantage of new opportunities to elevate the profession.
Pathway 8 | What Does Breath Have to Do with It?
Lecturer: Kelly Long, LRT, CCT, LMT, RYT-500, C-IAYT
In spiritus, INSPIRE (Breathing Life into) is an exploration of how we can become consciously aware of how we breathe or do not breathe properly. What are the implications of improper breathing vs. proper breathing, and how we correct it for ourselves and the people, we serve to live healthier fuller lives. What are the implications of breathing upon our physiology. Proper breathing should be a pillar of health as much as exercise and diet.
Pathway 9 | CPG to Protocol: How to Translate a CPG into Practice
Lecturer: Lynda Goodfellow, EdD, RRT, FAARC
Clinical Practice Guidelines can be a daunting task for clinicians at the bedside. This presentation will discuss the implementation process that can lead to protocols and care pathways that impact patient outcomes, such as hospital length of stay, liberation from mechanical ventilation and other important outcomes. To be discussed are the processes for implementation and why this is important, clinical resources needed, and possible strategies for implementation.
Final 2024 topic coming soon
December topic is being finalized
Approved CRCE Hours
Up to 10
Category
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