A patient will sometimes use a respirator before undergoing therapy.
Simulation exercises are a critical component to methods of physical and occupational therapy. Respiratory therapy students learn and execute many varieties of simulation exercises in preparation for the professional world and taking care of patients experiencing breathing difficulties. These exercises simulate situations involving surgical recoveries, the aged, young people and emergency scenarios.
Age-Related Impairments
Age impairment exercises simulate the "feeling" of suffering from a back injury.
Students can have a hard time comprehending how difficult it is for older adults to function with sensory losses, such as vision impairment or trouble with breathing. To scale this lack of understanding, according to Rutgers University, classroom assignments involve age-related simulation exercises that actively engage students to experience firsthand some of the many aches, pains and sensory losses often associated with age-related impairments. This activity increases empathy and, as Rutgers professor Monika Deppen Wood, MA writes, "increase[s] knowledge of the physical requirements for accomplishing tasks basic to community living."
Stress Testing Drill
Simulation exercises for respiratory therapy students continue into the professional world.
Stanford University designed a test to measure a health care professional's response to an emergency. This "Stress Test" drill is a simulation exercise developed for use in the classroom, continuing education and in the professional world. Stress tests range from scenarios involving blood hemorrhages or collapse of the lungs. According to an October 2008 Stanford Hospital & Clinics press release, health care facilities are also using these exercises "in surprise simulations using a high-tech mannequin."
Straw Breathing Exercise
Respiratory therapy simulation exercises can involve teaching someone use inhalers.
Another successful simulated activity for respiratory therapy students is called the Straw Breathing Exercise. According to a 2003 draft of the exercise published at the University of Arizona website, this simulation makes therapy students inhale though different types of straws--while at rest and following a workout--to experience what it feels like to have asthma. Key concepts students learn from this exercise is that asthma is a restriction to breathing and one's "respiratory rate is a function of physical variables such as fitness, age, gender and health status." Students also learn that symptoms of asthma can also be manipulated by exercise or stress.
Tags: therapy students, professional world, simulation exercises, Breathing Exercise, exercises simulate, health care