For all respiratory therapists in British Columbia, please review the attached letter about recruitment and retention of respiratory therapists in BC. Next share this letter or your own letter with:
Kane Tse, HSA President by emailing [email protected]
Erin Toplak, Senior Policy Analyst, Allied Health Policy Secretariat by emailing [email protected]
Your MLA (Find Your MLA), email and explain to them what you've been experiencing.
To go an extra step, ask for a 20 minute meeting to discuss what you are experiencing. The BCSRT can help you with these meetings.
The British Columbia Society of Respiratory Therapists and the Respiratory Therapy Leaders of British Columbia are in agreement with the CSRT position recognizing the impact of costs and emotional hardships that the technical failure and exam cancellation. This impacted many of the BCSRT members and that it was highly recommended that the initial commitment of reimbursement and cost covering be considered.
October 1, 2019
The board of directors for the British Columbia Society of Respiratory Therapists (BCSRT) endorses the following statements that Registered Respiratory Therapists are able to safely and competently:
1. Prepare patients for sleep related breathing disorder monitoring of level 3 and level 4 multichannel devices.
2. Assess the validity and quality of results from diagnostic tests for sleep related breathing disorders with level 3 and level 4 multichannel monitoring devices.
3. Interpret the results from diagnostic tests for sleep related breathing disorders with level 3 and level 4 multichannel monitoring devices.
The board of directors for the BCSRT recommends that RRTs obtain an advanced competency in order to perform level 1 and level 2 diagnostic tests for sleep related breathing disorders. The BCSRT board of directors anticipates the creation of a regulatory college that will provide oversight of respiratory therapy. This regulatory college will be best positioned to determine the advanced competency required of RRTs who want to perform and interpret level 1 and level 2 diagnostic tests for sleep related breathing disorders.
Information used in making our position statement was obtained from the National Competency Framework for the Profession of Respiratory Therapy 2016 – 2021. This framework was developed by the Canadian National Alliance of Respiratory Therapy Regulatory Bodies.
Endorsed by BCSRT Board of Directors:
In December of 2018 HSA released the “Report to members on the proposed terms of settlement” for the April 1, 2019 to March 31, 2022 tentative collective agreement. When this report was released, many Respiratory Therapists throughout BC were surprised and frustrated and unrecognized.
To help sort thru our members’ current and future options the British Columbia Society of Respiratory Therapists (BCSRT) in conjunction with the Respiratory Therapist Leaders of British Columbia (RTLBC) asked the membership for the approval to retain a lawyer who specializes in labour and employment issues.