Cigarette smoking and the respiratory therapist.

Abstract

You owe your job to the cigarette-manufacturing industry. Its product sees to it that enough patients are in our respiratory intensive care units and medical and surgical services to keep you and me busy. The simple fact is that cigarette smoking is the major cause of emphysema, chronic bronchitis, and lung cancer. Cigarette smoking is also the single greatest modifiable risk factor behind fatal heart attacks, accounting for nearly one third of these.