AARC Explores 2025 Pathway Guide

Lecturer: Ellen Becker, PhD, RRT, RPFT, AE-C, FAARC

Prediction equations for normal lung function commonly included a race/ethnicity variable. Recently, researchers highlighted problems resulting from the use of a social construct such as race/ethnicity to predict biological function. This presentation will help clinicians better advocate for their patients by understanding how race-neutral prediction equations impact disease severity and treatment eligibility.

Lecturer: Hannah Wunsch, MD, MSc

The COVID-19 pandemic presented unprecedented challenges in intensive care, mechanical ventilation and respiratory care. However, the genesis for intensive care can be traced to the polio epidemic in Copenhagen in 1952. With only a handful of negative pressure ventilators the team at Blegdam hospital turned to a relatively unknown anesthetist, Bjorn Ibsen, who introduced tracheostomy and positive pressure ventilation as the preferred treatment. Students hand ventilated patients for days and the mortality rate plummeted. Dr. Wunsch has exquisitely detailed this story in her book entitled, The Autumn Ghost. The story is fascinating, includes personal stories of the physicians and patients as well as the amazing success of a team of individuals dedicated to solving an unsolvable problem.

Lecturer: Michael Lipnick, MD

Lecturer: Katlyn Burr, MSM-HCA, FAARC, RRT, RRT-NPS, AE-C

This presentation will review the emotional response that occurs when humans give and receive feedback. Attendees will leave with practical tips to manage emotional responses when managing feedback related conversations.

Lecturer: Jie Li, PhD, RRT, RRT-ACCS, RRT-NPS, FAARC, FCCM

Aerosol therapy is a cornerstone in the management of patients requiring mechanical ventilation, yet achieving effective drug delivery in this population remains a complex challenge. This lecture explores the evolving landscape of aerosol delivery during invasive ventilation, with a focus on the physiological, technical, and procedural factors that influence therapeutic efficacy. Attendees will gain insights into recent advances in aerosol generation technologies, optimal device selection, ventilator settings, and circuit configurations. The session will also offer practical strategies to enhance aerosol delivery in everyday clinical practice, aiming to bridge the gap between evidence and application.

Natalie Napolitano, MPH, RRT, RRT-NPS, FAARC

Non-invasive ventilation is a tool in the RT’s arsenal that is heavily dependent on patient compliance, interface fit, and diligence of staff to ensure the patient is receiving the prescribed treatment. Despite optimizing these key components of NIV, many patients spend a significant amount of time in limbo, unable to wean off of support. This poses a dilemma for the multidisciplinary team that is left to weigh the pros and cons and risks and benefits to prolonged NIV use in the intensive care unit with those of intubation and invasive mechanical ventilation. Defining NIV failure is a complex and important decision point in the progression of acute respiratory failure in children.