Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine

The Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine at Dongguan People's Hospital was established in 1987 as the Department of Respiratory Medicine and officially adopted its current name in 2018. It combines clinical care, teaching, research, prevention and rehabilitation. It is a unit in the national key clinical specialty development program and a key clinical specialty of both Guangdong and Dongguan. Its overall capabilities rank 6th among respiratory specialties in prefecture-level cities nationwide and 1st among prefecture-level cities in Guangdong. It provides high-level care for respiratory diseases and critical illness in the Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao Greater Bay Area.

Its mission is precise diagnosis and treatment, priority care for critically ill patients, whole-course management and compassionate support. With a focus on the full cycle of respiratory care, it aims to be a regional center of excellence for respiratory diseases and critical care. Core responsibilities include medical treatment during citywide public health emergencies, consultation on complex and critical cases, and training of specialist personnel.

1. Overview The department places patients at the center of care, focusing on early screening, precise diagnosis and treatment, critical care and long-term rehabilitation to provide comprehensive, individualized, high-quality respiratory services. It has 164 beds in operation, including 16 respiratory intensive care unit (RICU) beds. Its two inpatient divisions are located at Honglou and Puji campuses. Supporting units include a respiratory endoscopy center, pulmonary function laboratory, sleep monitoring room, chronic respiratory disease center and respiratory laboratory, forming an integrated system of outpatient, inpatient, intensive and rehabilitation care.

The department has been approved for national and Guangdong key clinical specialty development programs. It has been selected as a national demonstration training base for standardized management of chronic airway diseases, an outstanding unit in the national development program for standardized interstitial lung disease diagnosis and treatment centers, an outstanding unit in the national venous thromboembolism (VTE) prevention and treatment capacity program, a collaborating hospital of the National Center for Respiratory Medicine, and a national sentinel hospital for respiratory care quality control and management. It has received national outstanding-unit designations for lung cancer and pulmonary nodules, COPD and acute respiratory distress syndrome, along with honors including Guangdong's Advanced Collective in the Fight Against SARS and Dongguan's Model Collective. It is a national pulmonary function standardized training base for Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine (PCCM) and a Guangdong respiratory endoscopy training base, leading standardized respiratory specialty development in Dongguan and surrounding areas.

2. Professional team The department has a well-structured, technically skilled team with a complete training and succession structure. There are more than 100 medical and nursing staff. More than 60% of the physicians hold master's or doctoral degrees, and 19 hold senior professional ranks. Attending and resident physicians are fully represented, with clearly defined specialist responsibilities. The department encompasses six subspecialties: respiratory critical care, lung cancer and intervention, pulmonary infection, pulmonary vascular and interstitial disease, chronic airway disease, and respiratory sleep medicine. Recognized respiratory specialists from across China are engaged as visiting professors and academic advisers, regularly conducting ward rounds, teaching and research guidance to support continual improvement in care.

3. Specialized clinical techniques (1) Comprehensive respiratory critical care Equipped with ECMO, invasive and noninvasive ventilators, continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT), critical care ultrasound and other advanced equipment, the department has established a standardized RICU care system. It specializes in emergency treatment of severe pneumonia, respiratory failure, sepsis and multiple organ failure. The department reports successfully treating more than 300 critically ill patients each year on average and describes its complex care techniques supported by ECMO as mature and reliable.

(2) Precise interventional pulmonology The department performs technically demanding grade III and IV endoscopic procedures, including rigid bronchoscopy, endobronchial ultrasound (EBUS), robot-assisted percutaneous lung puncture, rapid on-site evaluation (ROSE), percutaneous cryoablation, airway stent implantation and safe T-tube placement. It performs more than 200 complex interventional procedures per year on average, providing precise, minimally invasive approaches for pulmonary nodules, lung cancer, airway stenosis and airway fistulas.

(3) Whole-course management and rehabilitation for chronic respiratory disease Using its chronic respiratory disease clinic, digitally supported inpatient chronic disease management unit and follow-up database, the department integrates early screening, standardized diagnosis and treatment, long-term follow-up and home rehabilitation for COPD, asthma and other chronic diseases. This substantially reduces the risk of acute exacerbations and improves respiratory function.

4. Teaching and research The department undertakes teaching for Southern Medical University, Guangdong Medical University, Jinan University and other universities, as well as national standardized residency training. As a national PCCM standardized specialty development base and a Guangdong respiratory endoscopy training base, it trains specialist physicians and nursing personnel and supports the regional respiratory workforce pipeline. Over the past three years, it has made major progress in research projects, academic publication, scientific awards and technology translation. It undertakes 13 projects at national, provincial and other levels with sufficient research funding; has published 24 high-level academic papers, including 22 indexed in SCI; and has an expanding academic influence. Awards include second prize in the Guangdong Science and Technology Awards, third prize in the Guangdong Medical Science and Technology Awards, third prize for hospital management technology innovation from the Guangdong Hospital Association, and first prize in the Innovative Dongguan Technological Invention Awards. It has six invention patents and conducts 15 drug clinical trials, with strong research translation capabilities.

The department will use national key clinical specialty development as an opportunity to strengthen respiratory diagnosis, treatment and critical care, enhance technological innovation, training and services, and build a nationally first-class, regionally leading center for respiratory and critical care medicine to safeguard respiratory health.