Respiratory Medicine

We provide care for conditions such as asthma, cystic fibrosis and primary ciliary dyskinesia. We also support children and youth who have sleep disordered breathing or tracheostomies, and those who need home ventilation support.

The respiratory medicine team leads a number of specialty clinics and services. We offer consultations, assessments, diagnostics and long-term disease management support for certain conditions. We integrate research into the clinical care of children and youth with respiratory conditions, to improve outcomes.

Consultation services

• Respiratory Consult Clinic: Accepts requests for general respiratory medicine consults. This team assesses and diagnoses patients with a broad range of lung conditions. After consultation, they may suggest new management strategies for the referring provider to consider. We may also refer patients to other services within BC Children’s Hospital, such as chronic disease management clinics; or to services within a patient’s community
• Sleep Clinic: Offers assessment, diagnosis and care to children and youth with sleep conditions
• Asthma Clinic: Diagnoses and supports children and youth in managing their asthma. We also educate patients and families/caregivers to help them better manage their asthma symptoms and improve their quality of life

Diagnostic services

• Pulmonary Function Laboratory: Assesses children’s breathing through a variety of pulmonary function tests. Tests include spirometry, diffusion capacity, and lung volume assessments
• Sleep Laboratory: Conducts advanced pediatric diagnostic sleep studies that patients may access through a referral to the Sleep Clinic
• Flexible bronchoscopies: We offer these for patients staying in the hospital, and as same-day procedures where patients do not stay in the hospital overnight. 

Chronic disease management clinics

We provide ongoing care and treatment to children and youth who have been diagnosed with chronic respiratory conditions through their chronic disease management clinics. These clinics do not accept referrals from external providers.

• Severe Asthma Clinic: Provides multidisciplinary and expert care to children and youth, including the use of biologic therapy
• Children's Interstitial Lung Disease Clinic (CHILD Clinic)
• Cystic Fibrosis Clinic (CF Clinic): Assesses and cares for children and youth with a possible or confirmed diagnosis of cystic fibrosis
• Primary Ciliary Dyskinesia Clinic (PCD Clinic)
• Home Tracheostomy and Ventilation Clinic (HTV Clinic): Supports patients in communities across BC and Yukon who have tracheostomies and/or home ventilation needs

Referral information

Patients need a referral from a doctor or nurse practitioner to access respiratory medicine care at BC Children’s Hospital.

Providers: please submit one individual referral per patient for respiratory medicine specialist attention. Do not refer a patient to multiple clinics in this specialty area.

See the Respiratory Medicine Referral page for more details.

Appointment details

Before your child or youth's first visit to a respiratory medicine service, please read these details:

• Do not give them their rescue medicine (e.g. Bricanyl, Ventolin or Salbutamol) for four hours before the appointment, unless you are concerned they are having an acute asthma attack
• Do not give them any combination medications (e.g. Advair (purple), Symbicort (red & white), Zenhale (blue with green lid)) for a minimum of 24 hours before the appointment, as they interfere with lung function testing

We need at least 72 hours notice for rescheduling, where possible. We will only reschedule once before we require a new referral from your child or youth’s care provider.

Pulmonary Function Laboratory: what to expect

These tests typically take 45 minutes to just over an hour to complete. We guide the patient to perform various breathing techniques to assess their lung capacity and function. Depending on the doctor’s recommendation, we may also give them medication for their breathing.

Cancellations

If you need to cancel or reschedule an appointment, please call our general phone line between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. They will transfer you to the appropriate staff member.

Follow-up

You won’t always be able to book follow-up appointments during clinic visits. We will call you to schedule follow-up appointments as needed. At that time, we will also have information about any tests that your child or youth may need to complete before their next appointment.

Contact us

Respiratory medicine clinics deliver services from Monday to Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Respiratory Consult Clinic
Area A, BC Children’s Hospital
4480 Oak Street
Vancouver, BC
V6H 3V4

Pulmonary Function Laboratory
Room 1C31A​, BC Children's Hospital
4480 Oak Street
Vancouver, BC
V6H 3V4

Phone:

• General line: 604-875-2119
• Asthma Program: 604-875-3042
• Home Tracheostomy and Ventilation Clinic: 604-875-2729

Email:

• General email: RespiratoryClinic@cw.bc.ca
• Asthma Program email: asthma@cw.bc.ca
• Home Tracheostomy and Ventilation Clinic: HTVClinic@cw.bc.ca

Fax: 604-875-3293