By Huiqing Ge, MSc, RRT, Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital, Zhejiang University Medical College, Hangzhou, China

Huiqing Ge, MSc, RRT from Hangzhou, China was invited to participate in a three-week clinical education exchange program at the University Of Virginia Medical Center, in Charlottesville, Virginia, USA. The rotation lasted from May 18th to June 6th 2015 and Huiqing Ge’s professional mentor during the exchange visit was Daniel D. Rowley, MSc, RRT-ACCS, NPS, RPFT, FAARC. In his role as Clinical Coordinator of Pulmonary Diagnostics & Respiratory Therapy Services Daniel was in a unique position to provide Huiqing Ge with a comprehensive educational experience in all aspects of contemporary respiratory care in a world class health care institution.

Huiqing Ge was deeply impressed on a personal level with the beautiful city of Charlottesville, the warm reception and thoughtful arrangements provided by her colleagues in Respiratory Care and by the many friends she had the opportunity to meet. Her professional experiences were equally outstanding as the RT’s and physicians at the Medical Center were unselfish as they shared their experience in health care and management. She was able to make respiratory rounds and was directly involved in experiences in the ER, MICU, SICU, NICU, PICU, and in the Pulmonary Function Laboratory. Huiqing Ge was impressed with the RTs’ professional competence and cooperation as members of the Health care team.

Some additional activities of her exchange program included a visit with her host, Daniel Rowley, to tour the laboratory of Professor Bruce Rubin, MD at Virginia Commonwealth University’s Medical Center.

She also was honored to have the opportunity to be a speaker at the 2015 Virginia Society for Respiratory Care (VSRC) Annual Meeting held at beautiful Virginia Beach. Huiqing Ge presented the topic of “Respiratory care in China: Two decades of Progress”. The main content of the presentation was the current situation of respiratory therapy in China and featured case studies on their experience with lung protective ventilation. Beyond her professional experiences Huiqing Ge enjoyed sharing friendship at the reception following the conference and learning more about American culture during her three-week visit. Her hope is not only to see the exchange program continue in the future but also to see an in-depth cooperation develop between the two countries as we move forward to further improve respiratory care for our patients.