The Department of Respiratory Therapy

Introduction

In 1982, when Veterans General Hospital, Taichung branch was established, the Division of Respiratory Therapy had not been established yet. Inhalation therapy and consultation for use of the mechanical ventilator in the ICU was provided by the Division of Chest Medicine (CM). In July 1984, Dr. Kun-Shan Chi of the CM established a respiratory therapy team, which ultimately evolved into the Division of Respiratory Therapy (RT) following an organizational restructure of our hospital in 1989. A three-shift around-the-clock service available every day of the year was not implemented until 1995. 


The Respiratory Care Center (RCC) was built in January 2010 to take care of patients on a ventilator transferring from the ICU, to find and treat the underlying causes of respiratory failure, to help patients undergo pulmonary rehabilitation, and to promote the process of early weaning from ventilators. This center also serves as the intermediate station for transferring prolonged mechanical ventilator (PMV)-dependent patients to the Respiratory Care Ward (RCW) of other hospitals or to home care. In 2016, the services of RT were extended to the Pediatric Department and the Department of Emergency Medicine.