Estimation of the time and procedures required for quality care in Respiratory Therapy in assistance services of Tertiary Centers in Eje Cafetero, Colombia 2019

Abstract

Introduction: Respiratory and cardiac diseases are on the increase every year, which is why they are a major problem in hospital systems, mainly in emergency and critical care services. The Respiratory Therapist is a key member of the medical teams of the hospital shock services that provide care to these patients. The objective of this study was to determine the procedures and time required in a quality care in Respiratory Therapy in emergency care services, intermediate care and intensive care in the third level care centers of the Eje Cafetero in Colombia, during the year 2019. Materials and Methods: An observational, descriptive, cross-sectional study was designed. Through a survey we investigated sociodemographic variables and procedures and the time needed for them, randomly selecting the respiratory therapists that worked in the described care units, from the thirteen third level care centers of the Eje Cafetero in Colombia, in the cities of Armenia, Pereira and Manizales, of which eight care centers were included in the study.  Additionally, respiratory therapy coordinators and key informants such as the head of nursing, area supervisors, and medical chiefs were surveyed to evaluate the quality of respiratory therapy services. A Likert scale was used for this last point. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software, version 25.0 for Windows, was used for data editing and reduction.  Results:  The population surveyed was 50 Respiratory Therapy professionals out of a total of 278 working in the services described above. On average, there is one Respiratory Therapist per shift (12 hours) in the different care services (hospitalization, intensive care, intermediate care, emergencies) which must be in charge of an average of 18 beds.  The average of patients occupying respiratory therapy per day is 14, and according their disease they should have 2 or 3 therapies per day.  In addition, on average 15 patients are admitted per shift. The city with the highest total number of therapists was Manizales (one for every 13 beds). It was determined that in a single admission of a patient to the Intensive Care Unit, implementing each clinical procedure performed by the therapist, an average time of 285 minutes is required. The average duration of respiratory therapy procedures per patient in the hospitalization area was 321 minutes and 684 in neonatal ICU.  Conclusion: It could be evidenced that in the surveyed institutions there was a deficit of Respiratory Therapy professionals, which leads to not offering quality care.