The FDA has approved a new weapon to treat COPD. It is called Breo, an inhaled drug by GlaxoSmithKline of Britain and Theravance of the United States. It consists of a corticosteroid, fluticasone furoate, and a long-acting beta-agonist called vilanterol. The product is delivered through a palm-sized device called Ellipta. It is known as Relvar ...

A new trend is catching on in schools. Some kids are now sniffing hand sanitizer, like the ones on hospital walls across the country, in an effort to ''get high.'' Germ-X seems to be most popular. These bottles are very easy to come by at the local pharmacy or Wal Mart store in small sizes that easily fit into a pocket or purse.  Hand ...

As the blog before Christmas, let's take a short break from our usual chatter. I want to wish each of you a Merry Christmas. Whether you are working the night shift, managing a vent all day or just standing by in the emergency department, I hope you have a ''silent night'' and that all is calm and bright for you. I hope you get to eat cookies and ...

We have spent this past month talking about work and life balance. Let's finish up this week with a talk about therapists and patients who suffer through the holidays. Many patients may be silently suffering because they have lost a spouse or someone close. Holidays can be tough, especially for those who have lost others. The holidays bring up ...

A conference I recently attended brought up an interesting topic: home-based respiratory care services. The speaker was not talking about DME services but actual respiratory therapists in the homes of patients providing services to keep them out of the hospital, tending to their home ventilators and breathing machines, and seeing patients shortly ...

Reason #1: The doctor does not want to get sued. It's called ''defensive medicine.'' Doctors may order unnecessary tests, procedures, or therapy to cover their rears in a lawsuit. Under the gun, doctors who order more tests for the ''just in cases'' believe they are better off than those who did not. This raises the cost to the patient, which ...

CNN reports that ''in a landmark ruling that will affect the November election and the lives of every American, the U. S. Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the controversial health care law championed by President Barack Obama'' (CNN, June 28, 2012).  It was close. The liberal justices (John Roberts, Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, ...

It is fall. Finally, the long, hot summer is gone, and the cooler air of autumn, the rustling of leaves, the crispness of the morning air all point to our transition toward winter. Get ready, folks! This fall, spend a little extra time educating your patients about the hazards of breathing in cold air. Many of us deal with COPDers year ...

A rash of incivility has hit the nation. Experts agree that being less than civil, especially in the workplace, is the ''thing'' people are doing. Often, it is not that a person wants to be rude, but that they do not know how to be any other way. In health care, this is an important issue. We all have had our bad days, our ''needy'' patients, our ...

Smokefree America recently offered these tips to get a smoker to quit. As respiratory therapists, it is important that we urge our patients to quit. Many of our patients are addicts who have tried and failed, sometimes multiple times. The article, which appeared in the Sept. 8 edition of USA Today, gives the following hints. 1. Nag wisely. ...