Norton Children’s Respiratory Therapy Services

The Norton Children’s Hospital Pulmonary Function Laboratory provides evaluations of the lungs and respiratory system in infants, children and teens. A lab also is located in the Novak Center for Children’s Health.

Our respiratory therapy team provides the following respiratory testing and care:

• Impulse oscillometry, a state-of-the-art lung function test used to detect lung disease, especially in kids as young as age 3
• Spirometry lung function testing to measure the amount and/or speed of air that can be inhaled and exhaled
• Nebulizer therapy to administer inhaled medication directly to the lungs to help reduce inflammation
• Chest physiotherapy treatments to help clear airways of mucus
• Respiratory assessments
• Pulmonary function testing
• Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), a lifesaving therapy for children with lung and heart failure. Norton Children’s Hospital is one of the first hospitals in the U.S. to establish an ECMO program. We were the 10th facility in the country to join the Extracorporeal Life Support Organization (ELSO) and have provided ECMO to more than 1,200 patients since 1985. We are recognized as an ELSO Center of Excellence – Gold Level.
• Blood gas testing to help determine respiratory function by reviewing how a child’s body is exchanging oxygen and carbon dioxide as well as the acid/base status (pH) of the blood
• Assistance with intubation of hospitalized children
• Management of conventional ventilators, high-frequency oscillatory ventilators and airway pressure release ventilation
• Initiation of bilevel positive airway pressure (BiPAP) therapy, a noninvasive therapy that delivers pressurized air through a mask into a child’s airway; used to treat lung and respiratory diseases that make it difficult to breathe
• BiPAP and continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) management and weaning
• High-flow nasal cannula initiation and weaning