38-3205 Respiratory care, defined.
38-3205. Respiratory care, defined.Respiratory care means the health specialty responsible for the treatment, management, diagnostic testing, control, and care of patients with deficiencies and abnormalities associated with the cardiopulmonary system. Respiratory care shall not be limited to a hospital setting and shall include the therapeutic and diagnostic use of medical gases, administering apparatus, humidification and aerosols, ventilatory assistance and ventilatory control, postural drainage, chest physiotherapy and breathing exercises, respiratory rehabilitation, cardiopulmonary resuscitation, and maintenance of nasal or oral endotracheal tubes. Respiratory care shall also include the administration of aerosol and inhalant medications to the cardiorespiratory system and specific testing techniques employed in respiratory care to assist in diagnosis, monitoring, treatment, and research. Such techniques shall include, but not be limited to, measurement of ventilatory volumes, pressures, and flows, measurement of physiologic partial pressures, pulmonary function testing, and hemodynamic and other related physiological monitoring of the cardiopulmonary system. SourceLaws 2007, LB463, § 1071.