Online Fundamentals of Spirometry Training

Description

Online Fundamentals of Spirometry Training

This online, self-paced spirometry training course covers the fundamentals of spirometry testing and is ideal for those working in occupational medicine, family practice, internal medicine, and other clinical facilities. This course was developed by Dr. Roy McKay with the University of Cincinnati. Dr. McKay is a co-author of the previous ATS-ERS Pulmonary Function Testing guidelines, that have been used as the basis for nearly all pulmonary function testing conducted worldwide.

Students will learn basic spirometry terminology, definitions, and how to administer tests to meet American Thoracic Society (ATS) – European Respiratory Society (ERS) standards. Students will also learn the basic skills needed to “read” and understand volume-time and flow-volume tracings. In addition, students will learn how to recognize when tests meet acceptability and repeatability criteria and how to utilize the tracings to improve patient results and test quality. This is critically important since technically flawed tests too often lead to inaccurate interpretations of respiratory health. This may result in falsely labeling normal subjects as “impaired” or impaired subjects as “normal.” Such flawed results are not only useless, but also convey false information which could be harmful.

This course will help testing technicians identify technically flawed curves and distinguish acceptable from non-acceptable tests. This is an important concern, since spirometers generate printouts and reports, regardless of whether or not the results are accurate.

Upon completion of the course, students will receive a certificate of completion from the University of Cincinnati.

Who Should Take This Course

This course is designed for persons who plan to conduct spirometry testing in an office, clinical and some occupational health settings. It can help prepare respiratory therapists taking the RPFT exam and occupational health nurses taking the COHN exam. It is not designed for students who need a NIOSH-approved course for testing in an occupational setting. Students who need NIOSH-approval, should consider taking a NIOSH-approved initial spirometry training course or a NIOSH-Approved Spirometry Refresher course.

Training Edge

• Our online course can be taken on-demand and at your pace, whereas other online courses are conducted over Zoom and only on designated days
• Our online course is highly interactive with games and ways to practice and test your knowledge and comprehension
• Comprehensive coverage of spirometry testing guidelines
• Courses can be viewed on your computer and any mobile device (with the Litmos app)
• Our training fits with your busy schedule and your budget
• Online training allows you to learn at your location (no need to travel)
• Course is approved for 7.0 contact hours and 0.7 CEUs (University of Cincinnati sponsor and accreditor)

Course Objectives

This course covers:

• Current spirometry standards and guidelines
• Calibration checks and Quality Assurance
• Spirometry parameters, definitions, measurement and use
• Within-Maneuver evaluation (acceptability criteria)
• Between-Maneuver evaluation (repeatability criteria)
• Testing technique
• Predicted values
• Lower limits of normal
• Spirometry patterns (normal, obstructive, restrictive and mixed)
• Types of spirometers and instrument standards
• Added optional modules (i.e. significant cough, other spirometry parameters, rise time to PEF, other repeatability criteria, etc.)

Course Instructor BIO

This course content was written and narrated by Dr. Roy T. McKay, Ph.D. with the University of Cincinnati. Dr. McKay has more than 35-years’ experience conducting spirometry testing in clinical, laboratory, research, workplace surveillance and epidemiological settings.

He’s the co-author of the 2005 ATS-ERS Pulmonary Function Testing guidelines used as the basis of nearly all pulmonary function testing conducted worldwide. Dr. McKay is a NIOSH-approved course director and instructor. He has also taught graduate level training courses in lung function testing at the University of Cincinnati and continues to teach a variety of continuing education training courses.

Technical Requirements

To successfully view this course, you must have:

• A computer with speakers
• A reliable internet connection
• This course is best viewed using Google Chrome browser (do not use Internet Explorer or Edge browsers)
• Adobe PDF reader capabilities (recommended to view downloaded PDF reference materials and resources)
• If viewing this course on a mobile device, you will need to download the free Litmos app from your app store