I am entering a BS Program in Cardiopulmonary Science. Does anyone have info on this program? I have heard nothing but negitive things about Respritory therapy, please any comments will help.
CRT vs RRT

walter

Dear Walter,

Can you be more specific about the negative things you have heard?

I think there are a lot of people on this list who can tell you otherwise, so it would be useful to hear your principal concerns. The hours are long and sometimes RT's don't get the respect they deserve, but many facilities I understand have great working relationships among doctors, nurses, RT's, and techs.

You should also visit the AARC's web site (www.aarc.org), RT Magazine (www.rtmagazine.com), Advance (www.advanceweb.com), and Focus on Respiratory Care (www.foocus.com). In these pages, you'll find many positive (and not-so-positive, occasionally) experiences of CRT's, RRT's, and other respiratory care professionals.

-jonathan

Thanks for the quick response. These are some actual responses I have recieved. I would say 90-95% of all responses to my questions about RT look like this.


GO INTO NURSING! MORE OPPORTUNITIES>MONEY ECT>

If you don't mind cleaning poop nursing is much better...Alot more money, respect, job choices,


Waste of time, become a nurse.

Rt is a dying field, pay is poor no room for advancement.

Thanks Walter

Walter,

Please be careful sifting through the comments about Respiratory Therapy as a career field. While Nursing does have recognition and often times better pay, RT has come a long way and offers much better pay, respect, and career options than it ever has in the past. I am a fan of the saying "your success is directly related to the effort applied". There are a lot of burned out therapists with negative attitudes who are counting the days to retirement, but there are many more therapists who are pioneering the new age of Respiratory Therapy. We are doing more now than we ever have and gaining the respect and admiration of Nurses, Physicians, and other health care professionals. \
My suggestion to you is to shadow a therapist, preferably one who is excited about the field, and see what they do. Ask lots of questions and visit the AARC website. Just in case you were wondering, I have been in the field 12 years and still come to work with the attitude that I have one of the best careers out there!

RT is fulfilling and rewarding in a way that nursing is not. If you want to be be stuck in field that is documentation intensive, lacks creatvitity and full of robotic bureacrats, be a nurse.
If you want to get into something that offers more autonomy, a more varied experience in dealing with different patient populations and gain a high level of clinical and technical expertise, be an RT.

Or...

If you like wiping butts, become a nurse

If you like saving butts, become an RT

Just the other night I both suggested nebulizing Flolan (patient's PA pressures about 97/50 and near systemic) and also using Servo 300A (what he was on) for Open Lung Concept type ventilation (ph was 7.10 on standard PCV with PaCO2 63----by a few hours pH was 7.43, PaCO2 35 and FIO2 reduced to .70 from 1.0 and then incoming ABG PaO2 was 212)....

Sorry for being flip about the butt remarks. But RT in many ways does offer more IF you go after it. There are many burned out and disgruntled RT's and RN's. Healthcare is under severe economic constraints which also coexist with increased public scrutiny and regulations. Combine that with technological change and it can be a wild ride.

Work half as hard be half as stressed while being very close to their pay. If the patient craps or pukes while you are suctioning, " I tell your nurse"

a mechanical ventilation genuis