A blog about Respiratory Care by a Respiratory Therapist
My worth to my hospital.
Nursing just got a 15% market increase on their hourly wage. Respiratory therapists are not included in the raise. We are already $6 less an hour than the supposed average touted by jobs.gov and they give a raise to RN's but not to RRT's?
Yet again we're treated like the bedside clinicians we are...........
I am considering Speech Pathology or Nursing.
off for a few days
I have been captain cystic fibrosis for the last two weeks and its been fun but I think I move into the PICU this next schedule. Its both awesome and awful that at this hospital they move "regular" therapists all over the place. Once I have had a year of RRT experience I can join a specialized team and stay in one place all the time but I am not sure I like that idea.
I have been trying to use my off-days to meditate a lot and listen to music. I need a hobby because during my off days I feel like I need to be productive or else they're wasted.
I am open to suggestions for hobbies. I have a really short attention span (ADHD) and so I rarely love video games, but I have been trying some out. Mario Brothers for the Wii is pretty awesome actually.
Maybe I should learn to cook exotic foods.
On-call?
I did my first on-call shift yesterday and I got called in. Usually the on-call therapist is what is considered a "resource therapist" but they gave me a full assignment, 3 cystic fibrosis patients. I was beyond exhausted when I finished my shift. That does mean though that my next scheduled day which is Friday, I will get 8 hours of overtime, yay, sortof :-)
I am now alone.
I was already alone, but now I have successfully passed the rigorous orientation process and now I am considered a stand-alone therapist. I begin night-shift (I requested night-shift, there is actually a waiting list for night shift at this place) in November, I pre-signed up to work Christmas and Christmas-eve in exchange for having Thanksgiving day and New Years Eve off. I am excited to have a schedule a month in advance, it is actually pretty nice for planning things.
I ran across this photo GuitarGirlRN posted that I thought was fun.
I ran across this photo GuitarGirlRN posted that I thought was fun.
Today
I was given 7 ventilator patients. I had hyperinflation therapy on all 7, and then I had 2 non-invasive patients requiring Intermittent Pressure Ventilation therapies. All of these kids were Q4H. I ran my ass off today and I could not tell you anything other than their last name and chief diagnosis. Today I do not feel like a therapist. Today I feel like a monkey trained to push buttons, write down numbers and retape ET tubes.
Goodnight.
Goodnight.
Baptized in blood
For those non-RRT's that are reading this, I implore you to attempt to see passed your profession and try to consider what it would be like if you were the only person in the room with your credentials and expected to operate entirely solo. The only real resource for an RRT is either a pulmonologist, a critical care physician, or a physician very well versed in pulmonology. I didn't really understand this until working at the place I work. I am sortof at a disadvantage when I say this though, because I am sure a room full of seasoned nurses and doctors are an amazing resource to the RRT, and a seasoned RRT is just as valuable to them (though the pay-scale would not suggest this). However in my limited exposure so far, when it comes to pulmonary disease, distress, arrest, intervention and just general maintenance I am rowing the boat alone. I am asked my opinion on chest x-rays and we have a respiratory driven protocol that pretty much says "whatever the RRT wants, or the CRT wants with the RRT's co-signature" in regard to hygiene and ventilator management.
I had a pretty baptismal day last week. I had a baby crash 20 minutes after returning from surgery, we had a very familiar episode again where they called ECMO stat, I was the only RRT in the room, managing everything, as the baby begins the most wicked pulmonary hemorrhage on the planet I have to deal with a lot of blood, when the surgeon said "The heart is empty, hurry with the bolus" I wanted to say "If you're looking for it, its all over my hands and arms and all inside the bag-valve".
Immediately following the code (which ended up as a successful ECMO installation with good volumes and saturations (Arterial, %sat, and cerebral ox) and when I left the attending said he predicted the outcome to be a good one) - following the code I was called stat to another one of my patients rooms, where as I am walking in the attending says "we might intubate" and I get the stuff together and then says "lets intubate, right now" so I intubated. Taped that badboy down, stayed to evaluate all my numbers and make sure he was good. Then I am called to be "standby" while they did a planned exploration of one of my patients chests at the bedside.
All of these were my assigned patients. I need to not whine about being "more clinician" because I did not leave the bedside very often all day with these super high acuity patients.
I did all of this 100% alone, I was the sole practitioner, with no one to double-check my decisions. Even the physician just said "whatever you want to do" insinuating that I am there to worry about the lungs so he doesn't have to.
Respiratory Care week is coming up, are your departments doing anything special for it?
I had a pretty baptismal day last week. I had a baby crash 20 minutes after returning from surgery, we had a very familiar episode again where they called ECMO stat, I was the only RRT in the room, managing everything, as the baby begins the most wicked pulmonary hemorrhage on the planet I have to deal with a lot of blood, when the surgeon said "The heart is empty, hurry with the bolus" I wanted to say "If you're looking for it, its all over my hands and arms and all inside the bag-valve".
Immediately following the code (which ended up as a successful ECMO installation with good volumes and saturations (Arterial, %sat, and cerebral ox) and when I left the attending said he predicted the outcome to be a good one) - following the code I was called stat to another one of my patients rooms, where as I am walking in the attending says "we might intubate" and I get the stuff together and then says "lets intubate, right now" so I intubated. Taped that badboy down, stayed to evaluate all my numbers and make sure he was good. Then I am called to be "standby" while they did a planned exploration of one of my patients chests at the bedside.
All of these were my assigned patients. I need to not whine about being "more clinician" because I did not leave the bedside very often all day with these super high acuity patients.
I did all of this 100% alone, I was the sole practitioner, with no one to double-check my decisions. Even the physician just said "whatever you want to do" insinuating that I am there to worry about the lungs so he doesn't have to.
Respiratory Care week is coming up, are your departments doing anything special for it?
BECOME Series: Physician
How to become a Physician
Step 1: Bachelor of Science in ________
Attend a College/University and graduate with a Bachelor of Science in a field related to medicine in some way: Chemistry, Physics, Biology, and some have a pre-med specific program.
Step 2: Medical College Admission Test
The Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) is a computer-based standardized examination for prospective medical students in the United States and Canada. It is designed to assess problem solving, critical thinking, written analysis, and writing skills in addition to knowledge of scientific concepts and principles.
Step 3: College of Osteopathic Medicine or College of Medicine
Apply and get accepted to a College of Medicine or College of Osteopathic Medicine.
Once you graduate from this school you will receive a Doctor of Medicine (MD) or Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (DO) degree.
You are technically a doctor, but you cannot yet practice yet.
Step 4: Internship placement from your college
Step 5: Residency placement
Placement is based on how good you did in college and your internship
Step 6: Fellowships are optional.
You are now a physician!
Resources to help you on your adventure
This professional pathway is incomplete but the included information is accurate as of May 30, 2012
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