My name is Kimberley Cumberbatch, and I am a Registered Respiratory Therapist. I graduated from the MSc RT program at Northeastern University, Boston, MA in 2009. After completing my studies I returned home to my country Barbados in hopes of utilizing my knowledge and skills there where respiratory therapy is new and generally unheard of by the average person.
However in Barbados, at our major 600 bed hospital The Queen Elizabeth Hospital, there are no official posts for respiratory therapists. Therefore, I have been working for the past four years as a Cardiac Technician, performing ECGs, Echocardiograms, Pacemaker follow-ups and Stress Testing. I volunteer my services in the respiratory unit of the hospital where PFTs are performed, and I also assist with sleep studies. As our hospital moves to become more advanced and offer more specialized care, I have been asked to refresh the other aspects of my respiratory training that I have not been using as they transition me into the post of Respiratory Therapist.
Therefore, in partnership with Florida National University (FNU) and South Miami Hospital, who have graciously accommodated me in creating a Respiratory Therapy Review Program, I will be enrolled at FNU for the next 4 months to complete this review. I am very grateful for this opportunity and we hope this will be a long lasting affiliation where many more Barbadians, and other nationalities alike, can become graduates of FNU for RT among other disciplines.
