By Hui Quing Ge, MSc, RRT, Director Respiratory Care Department, Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital

The 2017 West Lake International Respiratory Care Conference convened August 24-27, 2017, with impressive sponsorship by and support from the Zhejiang Medical Association, the Chinese Medical Association, the Zhejiang University Institute of Respiratory Diseases, and Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital (SRRSH) in affiliation with Zhejiang University School of Medicine.

RTs from the newly formed Respiratory Therapists Alliance of Zhejiang Province pose with officers and faculty.

Over the period of four days international expert faculty and local faculty specialists presented 36 lectures, demonstrations, and workshops to the participants. The state-of-the-art presentations were organized under the major subject headings of: Respiratory Failure Support, Pulmonary Function and Cardiopulmonary Exercise Testing, Chronic Disease Management, and Respiratory Rehabilitation. There were 320 onsite registered participants, and impressively, more than 2,000 individuals followed the meeting presentations in real time via the Internet.

The Founding Meeting of the Respiratory Therapists Alliance of Zhejiang Province also took place during the event. RTs from around the province formally established the organization to provide professional direction, to enhance the quality of patient care, and to foster a focus of unity for their professional activities.

Presentation features Certificate of Program “Approval” from the American Association for Respiratory Care and the International Council for Respiratory Care.

They marked the occasion by electing officers and board members and by having all RTs wear distinctive t-shirts with the Alliance markings and logo.

Further evidence of the quality of the extensive RT programming at SRRSH/Zhejiang University School of Medicine is the fact that concurrent with the West Lake Conference, the hospital also conducted an International Education Recognition System “Approved” Level II Program. The program ran from July 1-September 1t, 2017, and explored “The New Technique of Respiratory Care in Mainland China.”