Respiratory Care and Pulmonary Services

Respiratory care is a subspecialty of internal medicine that strives to prevent and treat respiratory disorders and pulmonary disease. This includes conditions such as asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), emphysema and pneumonia.

The Respiratory Care staff in the intensive care unit (ICU) provide noninvasive ventilator support and ventilator management to critical patients under the direct supervision of the medical staff.

Pulmonary services provided by Sutter Delta include an array of tests used to diagnose lung diseases such as asthma, fibrosis, occupational lung diseases (asbestosis), COPD and emphysema.

In addition, pulmonary function testing provides information to gauge the severity of lung disease. This assists the physician with treatment and medication management.