The department treats patients of all ages, offering a full continuum of care, ranging from diagnostic testing, Emergency Department care, inpatient and outpatient pulmonary rehabilitation, and education.
There are five distinct components within the Respiratory Care Department. Each area offers an extensive range of services provided by highly qualified professionals:
For more information about any of our programs and services, please contact us at 412.942.2000 or click here to request copies of our informational materials.
The Respiratory Care Department offers patients a variety of diagnostic and therapeutic options, including oxygen therapy, fiberoptic bronchoscopy, and outpatient testing services, including pulmonary function testing and bronchial provocation testing.
More than 40 million Americans suffer from some type of chronic sleep disorder. The Sleep Disorders Center is equipped to diagnose and treat various types of disorders, including insomnia, narcolepsy (inability to stay awake despite a good night’s sleep), and sleep apnea (failure to breathe during sleep).
The center is staffed by respiratory therapists and registered polysomnographers specializing in sleep disorders. Patients are referred for evaluation and testing by their primary care physicians and monitored during an overnight stay at the Hospital’s Sleep Disorders Center.
The Sleep Disorders Center offers home sleep testing. Patients denied an in-lab study by their insurer might be eligible for a home diagnostic study. For more information please call 412.942.2035.
In addition to testing and treatment, the center’s staff conducts frequent presentations for the community.
For more information on the Sleep Disorders Center, please click here.
Working with the intensivists is a multidisciplinary team of professionals including critical care nurses, a pharmacist, a nutritionist, respiratory therapists, social workers and case managers. During the course of a patient’s ICU stay, this team makes rounds allowing for immediate answers to a patient’s questions and for physicians’ orders to be carried through before the team leaves a patient’s side. This level of care is unique to the area and has traditionally been found only in a university or tertiary care setting. The Intensive Care Unit combines the latest in critical technology with an exceptional staff of doctors, nurses and other health care professionals whose role is to care for the 1,000 patients admitted annually to the ICU. Our care is enhanced by the use of physician intensivists – specially trained physicians who coordinate care for critically ill patients.
The Second Wind Pulmonary Rehabilitation program includes both inpatient and outpatient services in conjunction with St. Clair Hospital’s Heart Center/Cardiac Rehabilitation Program. The outpatient areas include two components:
Registered nurses and certified exercise specialists conduct the exercise portion of the program that combines outpatient exercise and ongoing education to help people manage potentially debilitating conditions such as asthma, emphysema as well as other types of chronic pulmonary problems. Click here for more information.The Pulmonary Health Education classes provide a multi-disciplinary team of health care providers designed to educate and support individuals living with chronic lung disease, such as COPD and asthma as well as other types of breathing problems.
The Respiratory Care Department offers a variety of programs and resources to help people quit smoking or quit using chewing tobacco. Trained smoking cessation facilitators and other health care personnel are available to answer your questions.
Services include:
To obtain materials on how to quit smoking or for more information on St. Clair Hospital’s quit smoking programs, please call 412.942.2008.
Information and quitting help is available through the PA free quit line at 1.800.QUIT NOW (1.800.784.8669). The telephone based program offers free support and counseling with trained facilitators for Pennsylvania residents OR click here for information about the PA Free Quitline and other web based programs.
Respiratory Care Department | 412.942.2000 | Call |
Sleep Disorders Center | 412.942.2035 | Call |
Intensive Care Unit | 412.942.4600 | Call |
Pulmonary Health Education | 412.942.2008 | Call |
Cardiac/Pulmonary Rehab | 412.942.1380 | Call |
St. Clair Hospital/ Pulmonary Health Nurse Educator: 412.942.2008
Call for general educational questions. Call PCP if ill or having symptoms of illness. Call for information and to register for free Second Wind Better Breathing Classes.
St. Clair Hospital / Pulmonary Rehab Exercise Program: 412.942.1380
This program combines education and supervised exercise to help improve breathing and increase activity tolerance.
COPD | How to use and clean a nebulizer and other instructional videos | Click Here |
Asthma | What is Asthma and how to overcome shortness of breath | Click Here |
Proper Use of Inhalers | How to use a Metered Dose Inhaler (rescue inhaler) with a spacer | Click Here |
Breo Ellipta Inhaler | How to Use Instructions | Click Here |
Trelegy Ellipta Inhaler | How to Use Instructions | Click Here |
Anoro Ellipta Inhaler | How to Use Instructions | Click Here |
Arnuity Ellipta Inhaler | How to Use Instructions | Click Here |
Advair (and other Diskus Inhalers) | How to Use Instructions | Click Here |
Spiriva Respimat | How to Use Instructions | Click Here |
Symbicort Inhaler | How to Use Instructions | Click Here |
Combivent Respimat Inhaler | How to Use Instructions | Click Here |
AirDuo RespiClick Inhaler | How to Use Instructions | Click Here |
Bevespi Inhaler | How to Use Instructions | Click Here |
Beztri Aerosphere Inhaler | How to Use Instructions | Click Here |
Wixela Inhaler | How to Use Instructions | Click Here |
Respiratory Care Department
412.942.2000
Sleep Disorders Center
412.942.2035
Intensive Care Unit
412.942.4600
Pulmonary Health Education
412.942.2008
Cardiac/Pulmonary Rehab
412.942.1380