Federal Medical Device Regulations: What Are the Implications for Respiratory Care?

The instrumentation used in respiratory care is among the most technologically advanced in medicine. Only advanced imaging techniques rival the technological changes that have occurred in the past decade in respiratory care. As a result, professionals involved in respiratory care have a responsibility to their patients and to themselves to use this new technology safely and effectively. Because there is a growing concern that medical technologies may be inappropriately used, there is an increasing need to make self-assessments of where we are and where the application of new technologies is leading us.