BCITS PROP team at the 54th CSRT Annual Education Conference

On May 24-26, 2018, some members of BCITS’s PROP team attended the annual Canadian Society of Respiratory Therapist Conference at the Westin Bayshore in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Presentations at the conference were split into 3 streams:

  • Critical care, where the focus is on very sick patients living in the ICU (Intensive Care Unit). The topics presented involve hospital care. For example, one workshop in this stream discussed best practices around Epidemiology of ARDS (acute respiratory distress syndrome) management.
  • Community care, centers around a range of services (acute, chronic, palliative, rehab) provided outside the hospital. The main goal of such services is to keep people living in their community while providing options on how they choose to manage their healthcare. For example, one workshop discussed in that stream was “Adherence to Positive Airway Pressure Therapy” which provided tips on improving patient comfort at home.
  • Chronic care, the third stream, was offered in conjunction with community care and focused on specific respiratory conditions such as Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD).

This being a national conference, it presents a great opportunity to “talk shop” with RTs from different regions and compare diverse practices and different approaches of home ventilation programs from across Canada. Additionally, it offers a chance to share information about trends in our client populations, so BCITS (PROP) can better identify current and emerging needs and improve future services. (i.e. reviewing types of ventilators or bipaps best suited for a certain patient population).

The CSRT conference also offers an opportunity to explore new products showcased by the exhibitors of the tradeshow which takes place at the same time as the conference. The PROP team takes information about these new products back to our BCITS (PROP) members. As BCITS is a member driven environment, many ventilators and bipaps are trialled with our members who provide important feedback which helps direct potential future purchases for BCITS (PROP) equipment.

The team also attended the VitalAire Respiratory Homecare Award ceremony which recognizes a respiratory therapist who has made significant contributions in the field of home ventilation. It was awarded to Rita Troini, the founder of the Canadian Home Ventilation network. This network is a platform for like-minded experts to connect regularly about respiratory care on a national level.

Next year the 55th CSRT conference will be held in Niagara Falls.

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