Respiratory failure is a serious condition that makes breathing difficult. Respiratory failure occurs when the lungs cannot get enough oxygen from the blood. We breathe oxygen from the air into our lungs and exhale carbon dioxide, a waste gas produced by the cells in our bodies. Acute respiratory failure develops rapidly, with little warning, and is usually caused by diseases and injuries that affect breathing such as pneumonia, opioid overdose, stroke, and lung or spinal cord injury. The clinical case is established in the intervention of the respiratory therapist in a 75-year-old female patient with a diagnosis of acute respiratory failure. A correct clinical assessment of the signs and symptoms presented by these patients and the performance of complementary tests are of great help to accurately diagnose patients with suspicions of this pathology. The intervention of the respiratory therapist plays an important role in the management of patients with this pathology since oxygen therapy is extremely important in the recovery of these patients. A correct pharmacological treatment and the respiratory therapy techniques applied will help us to improve the clinical picture presented by patients with this disease at the time of being hospitalized.Respiratory failure is a serious condition that makes breathing difficult. Respiratory failure occurs when the lungs cannot get enough oxygen from the blood. We breathe oxygen from the air into our lungs and exhale carbon dioxide, a waste gas produced by the cells in our bodies. Acute respiratory failure develops rapidly, with little warning, and is usually caused by diseases and injuries that affect breathing such as pneumonia, opioid overdose, stroke, and lung or spinal cord injury. The clinical case is established in the intervention of the respiratory therapist in a 75-year-old female patient with a diagnosis of acute respiratory failure. A correct clinical assessment of the signs and symptoms presented by these patients and the performance of complementary tests are of great help to accurately diagnose patients with suspicions of this pathology. The intervention of the respiratory therapist plays an important role in the management of patients with this pathology since oxygen therapy is extremely important in the recovery of these patients. A correct pharmacological treatment and the respiratory therapy techniques applied will help us to improve the clinical picture presented by patients with this disease at the time of being hospitalized.La insuficiencia respiratoria aguda (IRA) es la incapacidad del sistema respiratorio de cumplir su función básica, que es el intercambio gaseoso de oxígeno y dióxido de carbono entre el aire ambiental y la sangre circulante, ésta debe realizarse en forma eficaz y adecuada a las necesidades metabólicas del organismo, teniendo en cuenta la edad, los antecedentes y la altitud en que se encuentra el paciente. La insuficiencia respiratoria aguda se desarrolla rápidamente, con poca advertencia por lo general es causada por enfermedades y lesiones que afectan la respiración como neumonía, sobredosis de opioides, accidentes cerebrovasculares y lesión pulmonar o de la médula espinal. El caso clínico está establecido en la intervención del terapista respiratorio en paciente femenino de 75 años de edad con diagnóstico de insuficiencia respiratoria aguda. Una correcta valoración clínica de los signos y síntomas que presentan estos pacientes y más la realización de exámenes complementarios son de gran ayuda para diagnosticar de manera certera a pacientes con sospechas de esta enfermedad. La intervención del terapista respiratorio juega un papel importante en el manejo de pacientes con esta patología puesto que la oxigenoterapia es de suma importancia en la recuperación de dichos pacientes. Un correcto tratamiento farmacológico y las técnicas de terapia respiratoria aplicadas nos ayudaran a la mejoría en el cuadro clínico que presentan los pacientes con esta enfermedad al momento de ser hospitalizados.