Long overdue praise and admiration for doctors and nurses was, and continues to be, espoused as they risk their lives in the fight against the pandemic. 

Few would argue that the year 2020 put a much-deserved spotlight on America’s front line healthcare workers. Long overdue praise and admiration for doctors and nurses was, and continues to be, espoused as they risk their lives in the fight against the pandemic. However, there are other relatively unsung heroes that haven’t gained the same level of notoriety but that are equally essential in the fight against COVID-19 today but also stand to be a longer lasting frontline against the virus long after it is under control – respiratory therapists (RTs).
Beyond caring for the pandemic crisis, these professionals treat patients with breathing-related health conditions such as, asthma and pneumonia. In fact, chronic lower respiratory diseases rank as the <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/leading-causes-of-death.htm" target="_blank">fourth-leading cause of death in the U.S. Millions of Americans are diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or <a href="https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/sites/default/files/media/docs/COPD National Action Plan 508_0.pdf" target="_blank">COPD</a> every year. 
Respiratory therapists are front line workers for these and other chronic respiratory diseases. Now, they are also playing a vital role in the COVID-19 pandemic. These highly trained professionals are essential to placing COVID-19 patients on ventilators and monitoring that process. Additionally, millions of people who have pre-existing respiratory issues are at much higher risk of mortality from the COVID-19 virus.
The shortage of ventilators to help the sickest COVID-19 patients is well known. But the shortage of people who know how to use them properly is also a crisis – both in the short-term and in the future.
<h2>Immediate and Long-term Needs for RTs.</h2>
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), there are approximately <a href="https://www.bls.gov/ooh/healthcare/respiratory-therapists.htm" target="_blank">135,000 respiratory therapists</a> working in the U.S. today, and that number is projected to grow 19% from 2019 to 2029 – much faster than the average for all occupations. However, an important subset of respiratory therapists – respiratory therapy technicians – are in even higher demand with only about <a href="https://www.bls.gov/oes/2018/may/oes292054.htm" target="_blank">9,000 respiratory therapy technicians</a> remaining the workforce. 
The American Association of Respiratory Care (AARC) puts the estimate of practicing respiratory therapists at approximately 150,000 – an inadequate number even before the onset of the pandemic. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a <a href="https://www.today.com/health/coronavirus-puts-spotlight-ventilators-respiratory-therapists-who-run-them-t177814" target="_blank">9-to-12% vacancy rate</a> for these healthcare workers. In fact, a recent survey conducted in New York State found 70% of respondents agreed that the practice of respiratory care is <a href="http://rc.rcjournal.com/content/early/2017/01/17/respcare.04768" target="_blank">at risk of losing practitioners.</a> 
 In a worst-case scenario, the COVID-19 pandemic could result in some <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/13/us/coronavirus-deaths-estimate.html" target="_blank">1 million people</a> needing the help of a ventilator to breathe. With a growing number of cases and deaths in the U.S. due to the virus, and the emerging threat of new virus variants, hospitals and respiratory care department leaders are searching for enough staff to meet the projected demand. 
Creative and unprecedented efforts have been taken by many healthcare systems and facilities to help shore up the supply gap in the short term as the nation strives to flatten the curve. Innovative staffing strategies such as recruiting <a href="https://wgntv.com/news/coronavirus/pritzker-issues-plea-to-former-healthcare-workers-as-virus-spreads/" target="_blank">recently retired respiratory therapists</a> or students nearing graduation have been implemented, alongside tapping strategic staffing partners to secure travel and contract RTs to help fill the voids. 
Other facility leaders are leveraging RTs to train doctors, nurses, physician assistants and others without pulmonary or critical care backgrounds to assist in meeting patient demands and bridging workforce gaps. These <a href="https://sccm.org/Blog/March-2020/United-States-Resource-Availability-for-COVID-19" target="_blank">tiered staffing strategies</a> are designed for pandemic-scale ventilator use by these non-critical care-trained providers. 
Despite all of these immediate efforts, even when the crisis is over the supply problem of too few RTs will still exist. 
<h2>Long-term Impact of COVID-19 on RT Shortages.</h2>
 The good news is that this pandemic will eventually pass. The world needs to be focused on the short-term – flattening the curve, treating our sick, and vaccinating the population. But there is more to this virus than the short term. 
 A full and comprehensive understanding of COVID-19’s long-term effects will depend greatly on ongoing studies well into the next few decades. However, while the exact long-term ramifications may remain unclear for now, experts are able to make educated assertations about how the viruses’ unique characteristics could affect lifelong lung health. 
 According to one <a href="https://www.bannerhealth.com/healthcareblog/teach-me/what-long-term-effects-could-covid19-have-on-your-lungs" target="_blank">medical expert</a>, the CT scans of COVID-19 patients are showing that damage to the lung tissue could be accumulating, resulting in scarring which can limit the elasticity of the lung and decrease its function even after the initial damage has passed. This condition is associated with a well-known syndrome known as Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) where fluid builds up in the tiny air sacs of the lung called alveoli. This is one area where unique long-term effects for victims of the pandemic are being closely watched. 
As the world waits to learn the exact long-term impact of a COVID-19 infection and as we wait for the pandemic to pass, healthcare systems and policymakers will need to identify future solutions to increase the respiratory therapy workforce. With a <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31622592">known gap</a> already existing between the needs of persons with cardiopulmonary disease and the providers trained specifically to handle their conditions, COVID-19 has only more brazenly exposed this hard truth.
<h2>We’re Here to Help.</h2>
At Cross Country Healthcare, we are seeing an uptick in demand in respiratory therapist needs among our customers. As we head into an uncertain year we will continue to be here ready to help your facilities on the front-lines across the country. For assistance <a href="https://www.crosscountryhealthcare.com/staffinghelp" target="_blank">contact us any time.

COVID-19: Breathing Easy May be Far, Far Away