Respiratory therapists have many career paths and settings from which to choose. They can specialize in different patient populations, diseases or technologies, move into management, work in pulmonary function or sleep labs, or practice in home health care.
While research coordination isn’t a common path, three respiratory therapists at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta at Egleston have taken that road less traveled. Their skills and willingness to learn are highly valued in the hospital’s cardiac research resource department.
A respiratory therapist since 1980, senior research coordinator Jeryl Huckaby was the first of the three to be recruited for the role.
“I got into respiratory therapy because I wanted to work in a hospital and it seemed like an up-and-coming field,” said Huckaby, RRT, MSCRA, CCRC. “I’ve worked across the hospital, in cardiac intensive care and as an ECMO (extracorporeal membrane oxygenation) specialist. When the cardiac service line wanted to create a cardiac research department, I became a coordinator in 2001.”
Huckaby is grateful to Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta for the leadership opportunity. Having a clinical background helped, but Huckaby soon realized that she needed to develop new skills to do the job well.
“None of the doctors had the support they needed. They’d come to me with a sticky note and tell me this is what they wanted to study,” she said. “I’d have to write the protocol, organize the budget and all the paperwork and sign up the participants. It was exciting and exhausting, but I liked being part of the whole process.”
Huckaby started her work with a bang by working on a pivotal study about using nitric oxide to get more oxygen into the lungs of newborns.
“The data was conflicting and at first we thought we’d disprove its usefulness, but our results were promising. We extended it to four other centers, then 22 and got it approved by the FDA for neonate,” she said.
Huckaby has seen many studies for new drugs, devices or protocols approved for children over the years.
“I’ve seen major changes in how children are treated. Things that were once considered experimental are now standard care,” she said. “Doing this work isn’t the adrenaline rush and instant gratification you get by helping someone breathe at the bedside, but it is rewarding to see how care has progressed and to know that you’ve been a part of it.”
'This job found me’
Jan Fernandez became a respiratory therapist in 1993 and a senior research coordinator in 2007. “This job found me, but it proved to be a really good fit.”
Fernandez, BS, RRT-NPS, CPSC, CCRC, uses respiratory therapy skills every day when she reads protocols and charts with a clinical eye, signs up patients for clinical trials and performs procedures. She does all that while working in concert with physicians, other clinicians and administrators.
"I had to learn about finances, grants and budgets to do this job. When you think that we have 15 to 20 trials, studies or registries going at once, that's a lot of paperwork," she said. "As a coordinator, you may have to apply for a grant. You must get institutional consent from both CHOA and Emory University, where many of our physicians teach, and informed consent from the parents of children
enrolled in the study. It's your job to educate everyone about his role in the process."
It can take up to a year to get a study launched, and once it is underway there are clinical procedures to schedule and reports to file.
“At the bedside you have backup, but in this job you are your own next shift,” said Fernandez, who is sometimes on call for physicians at night.
Fernadez loved working at the bedside, but enjoys bonding with patients who are subjects in long-range studies.
“It surprises me how many families will say yes when there is no immediate gain to their child. They are willing to help others.” she said. “Part of my work is to be a good advocate for these patients.”
Fernandez, who often coordinates studies for new medical devices, is proud of CHOA’s work with the thrombelastograph, which has become a standard of care used to detect blood clots.
"It's rewarding to see how research has the potential to change patient care. For me, the study is like a patient. You have to respect what you're doing and dot all the i's and cross all the t's."
Career transition
Lead research coordinator Eric Hoar came to the department four years ago, when he wanted to transition from the bedside.
“Working in intensive care units for 20 years can wear you down,” said Hoar, RRT, CCRP.
Hoar possessed the clinical skills, but learning the regulatory controls and contractual language was a challenge.
“It’s a definite learning curve but I still feel like I’m helping patients,” he said. “It’s different. You may only see a child briefly after surgery, but I follow some of these children for months or years. Most of them have good outcomes. I’m very happy and learning something new every day.”
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