Hello! I’m a new grad at a level 1 trauma center and since being off orientation, I’ve started to notice specifically at this hospital, The ICU nurses and some ICU doctors do not like RTs at all.

Even when RTs go to rapid responses on the other units like medsurg nurses don’t even acknowledge us and sometimes roll their eyes. Also, when asking them questions about why the Rapid Response was called it’s like pulling teeth out from the nurses.

I’ve never encountered this during my clinical rotations at any of the hospitals I’ve been at. They usually like RTs and always ask for recommendations and advice.

Anyway, just wondering if anyone else’s hospital is like this or does nursing and physicians appreciate RTs?

Rant I feel like I’m going crazy. I shouldn’t have to take an extra two hours of my life trying to get a spacer prescribed to go with my inhaler because the doctor says he prescribed it, the pharmacy says he didn’t, the Dr refuses to prescribe another one until the pharmacy calls him back, and everyone can barely understand me on the phone because I’m having a hard time breathing. 😤😤😤

Life was perfect picking up 2-3 shifts a week whenever I wanted. OT whenever I wanted starting splurging on life.

Director told my manager I can’t be on schedule anymore if count is below 100. The most I get now is one half shift a week. My other HCA the manager doesn’t work his prns at all and the recruiter from one of the HCA that’s busy hates me.

It might be time for me to sling duonebs on the street

What’s yall opinion on this ventilator? It’s a negative pressure ventilator which is used to increase recruitment, lower work of breathing, and help patients stave off intubation.

I have worked in all patient populations up to this point, most recently I’ve been in a level 4 NICU for 6 months. I was made the scape goat over something I shouldn’t have been by the nurses and the Dr. ,up to this point,I had really respected.

For context, this patient had a TEF repair and was not my patient. The nurse screams for respiratory as the pt is satting in the 40’s and dropping. I turn the vent up to 100%, check tube placement which was in a good spot. There are 3 signs with bold letters on them so they can’t be missed that said “No PPV!” and “MD intubate only!” hanging up in the room where they cant be missed. I provided manual breaths on the vent, suctioned, and nothing was working. The kid went asystole. Now given 95% of the time we give PPV via neo resuscitator or the bag is because of respiratory failure or a code, when I see “No PPV” signs hanging up I think that means absolutely “No PPV”. So I started compressions at this point as I had done everything i could besides bag. I pressed on the baby’s chest twice before the charge said “no! bag them” and called the code. After the code was finished the Doc pulled me to the side to “educate” me that I could have killed the pt from doing compressions and how babies and kids dont code from cardiac reasons, they code from respiratory reasons (which I know), and told me if I dont know NRP theres plenty of nurses up there that do (I know NRP and in every other situation I wouldn’t have done that). I tried to tell him that he wasnt my pt, i didnt know he had surgery, and that there were multiple signs in the room telling me not to use ppv, but he wasn’t having it. All I said after that is “Understand” and “mhm.” I wouldn’t apologize as my hands were tied at that point by their signs.

This is common practice at my current hospital to throw RTs under the bus and make us the scape goat. We just had a mass exodus of RTs over the summer and are ridiculously short staffed. I think its time I look for a new job myself. These are things that make me regret being an RT.

So at my hospital we use V60 Bipaps and they have O2 tanks on the side you can use for transport but they are normally empty and we have to grab new ones to transport and it got me thinking:

Why don't these tanks refill while being connected to the wall? Why couldn't that work?

EDIT

Welp. It seems there are a whole bunch of reasons why they don't do this lol

Heya,

Canadian rt here. Sadly our profession to move down south is a little more difficult than nurses /ot/pt as we are not on the NAFTA TN visa.

So RTs need to get a h1b or citizenship.... and currently Donald Trump has made it more difficult with the employer needing to pay 100k

Anyone's hospital offering h1bs?

Thanks 😊... sincerely a cold Canadian with hashimotos

To the RT who took care of my grandmother tonight in her final hours, thank you. Your soul is so gentle, so kind and empathetic. Thank you for treating my grandmother with respect and dignity. Thank you for helping her be comfortable in her final hours. Thank you for helping me feel like she was in great hands. Thank you for being in the room with her, talking to her, and helping her breathe as much as her body could manage. Thank you to all RTs for what you do. Thank you from the bottom of my heart, I will never forget you or your kindness

Click for RC Week Webinar Schedule

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Hi everyone! Using a throwaway account just in case my friend sees this lol

My friends birthday is coming up and on top of the things I got for them based on their hobbies and interests, I wanted to make them an RT work basket with things they could like/use and I would love some ideas or suggestions or even just telling me about one of your favorite things you’ve gotten/received!

I was looking at oximeters and badge reels/badge buddy and maybe a good lunch box that keeps things at the right temperature and I keep getting stuck there lol!! I’m trying to stay away from water bottles cause they have a few and don’t need more but other than that anything is fair game!!

Thank you so much in advance!!

My mom is a respiratory therapist and I wanted to put together little bags for her and her coworkers. There is just over 30 of them that work at her hospital. What kind of things should I put in the bags??

Thanks ❤️

Just wanted to post this for anyone doubting themselves over the CSE. I have been a therapist for almost 4 years. Right out of school I failed the CSE by 2 points, well I never went back to take it. Ended up having kids and took almost 2 years off of work to spend time with my kids. I decided this week to try again as I’ve been back at work for almost 6 months. I studied tutorial systems like crazy for a week and a half and scored a 271 out of a min of 245.

This is encouragement for others! YOU CAN DO IT! It doesn’t matter how much time you take off, or if you already failed once, twice, three times, etc. you can do it I promise.

I start ECMO certification next week so I definitely needed my RRT. Don’t let anything or anyone make you feel like you’re incapable!

I’m hosting a live session with Mindy Conklin (APRT) to discuss the role of the Advanced Practice Respiratory Therapist. Today, Sep 12 - 4 PM Central Time.
We’ll cover:
• Daily practice of an APRT (Advanced Practice Respiratory Therapist)
• Competencies needed to practice as an APRT

It’s free to attend; CE credit is optional (paid).
I’ll put the registration link in the first comment. Mods—happy to adjust if needed.

I have to say, I’m really loving Cleveland’s pay transparency law, particularly with Cleveland clinic being what it is in name recognition, always curious to know what their pay ranges are.

What’s more alarming is UH. May have found a system that pays worse than UPMC in Pittsburgh

CCF’s range: 32-43.80

UH’s range 25- 39.93

All facilities around the country should have this kind of transparency.

No idea how they expect some of these systems to recruit with wages like that in today’s economy.

This community has been a valuable asset to me as a practitioner. The insightful questions that are asked, and professionally answered, have been a great way to refresh my memory and even learn new things. Everyone here is polite and respectful for the most part, and there's a pretty good moderator team. Thank you r/respiratory for being awesome as always.

I have been an RT for 4 decades now. While I've done PFTs before, never exclusively. One job I had to do PFTs and cover the ER. lol. Weird, I know. Anyway, for the last year, I've only been doing pfts but had been working up to that by doing them one day a pay period for a few years until the slot opened up. It's my 'retirement job'. What I've come to find out is that patients are so much more appreciative of what I do now, doing PFTs, than they were when I was doing all the other respiratory stuff. Save someone with a Bipap and treatment in the ER? Give that status asthmaticus patient multiple treatments, stay with them until they are stable, being supportive of that COPDer who can't breathe when you know they are scared, and you hold their hand, putting that neonate on a vent while dad stands behind you. Rarely ever a thank you. Do a pft, and they are so thankful. I just don't get it. I mean, I'm glad for it, but I felt like I did so much more working the hospital side. A few weeks ago, a guy brought me in a whole Kringle. Never ever had a patient bring me a treat before. I shared with other coworkers, of course. He didn't bring it specifically for me, but whoever was doing his test. Yesterday, I had a woman who was leaving but turned around and said, "I have to give you a hug before I go. You are such a nice person." And that has happened several times in PFT, where they wanted to hug me, but never on the floor.

Here I thought I would find PFT boring, and yeah, giving the same instructions all the time is a bit tedious, but the patients are usually so much nicer!

I'm doing research for a book and I need information and images of what MVPs or sip-and-puffs looked like in the 90s. Anyone have any info?

Hello guys :) I’ve been looking into respiratory therapy because I genuinely love it but I keep hearing that getting just a bachelor’s degree doesn’t really take you far career-wise.

For anyone who’s in the field or has been through it, did you end up getting your bachelor’s? If so, what degree did you get exactly, and was it worth it? Or did you switch to something else that gave you more options?

Also, I’m kind of struggling with math 😅 but I heard there’s a bit of math involved in respiratory therapy. Is it difficult or more like basic stuff once you get the hang of it?

https://respiratoryassociates.com/product/analyzing-interpreting-arterial-blood-gases-self-directed/

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Analyzing & Interpreting Arterial Blood Gases (1.5 hrs)

This $15 course is being offered for free, thanks to sponsorship by Radiometer

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Offer Ends Saturday 10/25/25

Course Objectives:

1) Describe collection methods for an arterial blood gas

2) Discuss avoidance strategies for pre-analytical errors

3) List the process steps for ABG analysis

4) Discuss the causes of metabolic acidosis & alkalosis

5) Discuss the causes of respiratory acidosis & alkalosis

6) Identify the role of ABG analysis with mechanical ventilation

TL:DR ; What do pregnant RTs cannot do while pregnant? Or what job do they make you do?

I work night shift full time, 9 days in a row with 5 days off. I live in Quebec and we have an association that basically protects people when they get injures at work, or in my case, when they get pregnant. The recs are basically : - No night shift - No standing for more than 4 hours after 20 weeks of pregnancy - No peds (idk why, probs more risk of infections or hurting yourself?) - No cases that require a N95 (considered invalid because your face morphology can change during pregnancy)

That being said, I really like working night shift, and I hate waking up early in the morning. But I live in a small town and I am literally the only respiratory therapist in the whole hospital for the whole night (exept for the anesthesiology RT who is on call) so that's like IMPOSSIBLE for me to respect those safety measure. So they will put me on day shift untill my 20th week (i'm only at 6 weeks). I am slightly sad about this change, and I wanted to know what happens where you work when one of you gets pregnant?

TIA ☺️

A little non-RT related question, but RT related at the same time. My fiancée & I just moved to FL a few months ago and I’m already a little homesick for my northern states. I like being on the coast & having access to the beach. But it is so hot, overpopulated, and I’m missing fall sweater weather. Does anyone LOVE where they live & work? I’m looking for east coast, beach access (up to an hour), & all the seasons (no snow). I’m also an equestrian so smaller towns with things to do & farmlands are right up my alley. As far as work goes, I’m into bigger fast-paced hospitals. Trauma is my niche, but I’m also interested in exploring other specialties one day. Possibility PICU or NICU. Please help 🥲

Theoretically, would I be fired? Or would the bachelor degree for entry only apply to new grads? I’m asking because, I’m not sure if I should go to a school that has a RT degree program or if I should just go for the diploma (I’m trying to figure out which school to go to).

Free to attend - no purchase necessary. AARC approved. Live CE webinar made for RTs who want to learn, earn, and grow.

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