Home / Health / Dalhousie Students Provide Vital Breathing Tests to Reduce Waitlists
Dalhousie Students Provide Vital Breathing Tests to Reduce Waitlists
13 Nov
Summary
- New lung clinic opening in Halifax to address long waitlists for breathing tests
- Clinic partnership between Lung Association, Nova Scotia Health, and provincial government
- Clinic will provide on-the-job training for Dalhousie respiratory therapy students
On November 13, 2025, a new lung clinic is set to open in Halifax, Nova Scotia, with the goal of addressing the province's long waitlists for critical breathing tests. The Nova Scotia Lung Wellness Clinic has been in development for over two years, conceived as a solution to the growing problem of people in some parts of the province facing a four-year wait for a five-minute spirometry test.
The clinic is a partnership between the Lung Association of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia Health, and the provincial Department of Health and Wellness. It is being funded by the biopharma company GSK Canada, which has provided Dalhousie University with $300,000 to test the clinic as an 18-month pilot program.
The clinic will allow respiratory therapy students at Dalhousie to administer the spirometry tests under the supervision of a preceptor provided by Nova Scotia Health. This will not only help address the backlog of patients waiting for these vital diagnostic tests, but it will also provide the students with the on-the-job training they need to complete their program.
According to Sanja Stanojevic, an associate professor at Dalhousie's Department of Community Health and Epidemiology, the lack of access to timely spirometry tests has led to frequent misdiagnosis of conditions like asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The clinic aims to ensure patients receive accurate diagnoses and appropriate treatments.
The new lung clinic is expected to make a significant impact, with plans to see "a couple of hundred patients off the list every month." It will also help address staffing gaps, as Nova Scotia Health currently has 37 full-time vacancies for respiratory therapists, about 20% of its staffing needs.
