Applied Respiratory Physiology

The course is for medical students who have completed the 3rd year of their studies and have taken courses on respiratory physiology and pathophysiology. The aim of the course is to provide an in-depth understanding of respiratory physiology and its implications in health, in exercise and extreme environments, disease, and mechanical ventilation. The hands-on sessions will allow students to visualize and comprehend the basic physiology, and familiarize them with the use of cardiopulmonary exercise testing, polysomnography. Finally using a lung simulator the students will learn the basic principles of setting and adjusting a mechanical ventilator to support a critically ill patient with respiratory failure. All courses will be given by experts in adult respiratory and intensive care medicine.

Course leader

Katerina Vaporidi Associate Professor in Intensive Care Medicine, University Hospital of Heraklion.

Target group

The course is for undergraduate students after the 3rd year of medical school

Course aim

Learning objectives:
1. Mechanics of breathing and its application in the pathophysiology of respiratory failure
and mechanical ventilation
2. Pulmonary circulation, ventilation-perfusion relationships and Heart-Lung interactions
3. Exercise physiology and pathophysiology of limited exercise capacity
4. Control of breathing and pathophysiology of Sleep-breathing disorders
5. Basic principles of mechanical ventilation