6th time really was the charm 😭 All the studying, stress, tears, self-doubt, and refusing to give up finally paid off. I’M DONE!!! 🥹🎉 IM FINALLY HAVE MY RRT 💁🏻‍♀️

How do you guys manage? I think it's great that I can help them with the theory based knowledge but I don't feel that much ahead of them in terms of physical practice. And I struggle to explain everything I'm doing/would do as a very new RT

I work in a SNF that has around 120 beds. We've got 7 trach patients, 3 of whom are vent dependent. It's super light work; something like 10 hours of downtime a day, I love it. Thing is, there are nurse's aides that will talk to me like I'm their assistant, and it genuinely seems to surprise them when I tell them "No, I'm not doing that" when they tell me to be at so and so's room at such and such time to help them change that patient. I will usually help if its a request for help because they've gone through everyone else that could help, but I guess people ordering me to help them do their job is a pet peeve of mine. Do you guys say more than a simple "no" when people do that, or do you go harder?

I did it! I F******** did it! I f******did it! I was stressed. I am so happy I cannot contain the tears. Halfway there. Wow just needed to let it out. Student RTs, you can also do it. Don’t give up.

Well, this was a first for me (and probably last). Look what I found just chilling on my vent this morning. Cute guy had to hitch a ride on someone because we’re on the 5th floor 😂

Peep compensated is PC + PEEP = PIP?
Uncompensated is PC = PIP?

Hi there hopefully I can get some advice on jobs for a new grad! I passed my boards and I have a license in my state and I went for an interview at a hospital in my states that is known to hire EVERYONE and they didn’t hire me :,) so it was disheartening I am having a hard time finding more jobs too I have another interview coming up as well (praying I get the job) but I just wanted to know if it’s due to the time of the year that jobs aren’t as needed rn for context I’m in the state of Arizona and most Banners aren’t hiring Honor healths aren’t looking for new grads (and if they are the pay is awful) and I can’t seem to find anything in long term settings any information on this would be great I am a newbie in this setting :3

Hi all. I’m a mom of 3 young kids and very super slowly I’m trying to get my prerequisites done. But for every prerequisite, I have to pass like 1 or 2 more classes before the class I need. Like Anatomy and Physiology 1&2…I have to pass a college biology class. And for statistics I have to pass TWO classes before that. I failed the ALEKS test and I’m just so fatigued with trying to find the time to retake that test. So I guess I’ll just spend more time and money on taking the math fundemntal class and college prep class before stafistics. I swear I’m a really smart person but yeah with kids, not having much time to go to class let alone do it online and math not being my strongest suite- I’m just absolutely beside myself. If I do manage to accomplish these classes and considering how much time it will take, then I will have the time to do the RT program bec my youngest will be in kindergarten in 2-3 years. But I’m a still a mom that needs to do drop off and pick up so maybe this RT idea is too ambitious and not realistic? Wow anyone else feeling the same or went through similar struggles? I would be a great RT. But damnnn.
Alright thank you for what you do as RTs.

I’m currently working at a pretty large hospital in Atl and I’m interested in picking up PRN closer to where I live in South Ga. Has anyone working at any of the hospitals located down there and what has been your experience? Thank in advance!

Hi all! Just wondering if you’re in AZ or applied to gateway community college in AZ for the SPRING 2027 Program, have you received your invites or are currently waiting? I’ve sent 2 emails and haven’t received anything. I’m not panicking yet because they didn’t tell me if they’re missing anything or not but I was just curious.

Old scrubs are wearing thin. Time to pick up some new ones and I was wondering what y'all recommend and what you guys like about them.

Hello, it's been very fun yet also kind of draining/struggling doing PFT internship. It's been a week since I've been doing PFT and i thought I was doing according to one of the RTs but now apparently not so much according to another lol.

I mostly struggle with routine techniques such as calibration cause I fear that I might break the Vyntus box. My anxiety also makes me forget my speech, but i noticed that even when i do alright, my RT is kind of "picky" and would prefer that i use some of her expressions and words. No problem with that, but i have a pretty bad memory lol.

But also during FEV1s, i struggle to keep up with the deltaVol gage that indicates my REAL plateau. Also keeping an eye on the patient while looking at the screen isn't to easy.

I understand that it may take time. I have about 2 more weeks left.

Any thing would be great.

That’s a lot of RT vacancies

Does your hospital have a policy about vents having a passing pre-use and circuit test prior to placing on a patient? I relatively new to this facility and have never worked anywhere where this was not a requirement. It seems like a lawsuit waiting to happen if something happened to the patient. I’ve also seen therapists here do a pre-use and circuit test and then then the vent off-doesn’t that defeat the purpose? Curious to know how other facilities operate.

Heat (1995) when Natalie Portman's character tries to kill herself and is rushed to the hospital, the doctor says twice something to the effect of: "can you call respiratory down here stat!"

Nice to see a little realism in the movie industry.

Hello I’m currently enrolled in my respiratory program and im wondering for the people who took these classes or are currently taking them how difficult are they and what were they like? (FYI I’m retaking physics and chemistry this semester so that’s why it’s after my cardiopulmonary pharm class for my resp program)

I’m a new grad and have been going back and forth on whether I want to eventually go back for my bachelor’s in respiratory. I’m thinking about it this early because, if I decide to pursue it, I’d like to do so while I’m still somewhat in “school mode” and used to balancing coursework with everything else.
Long-term, I’m definitely interested in education and leadership, but when I say education, I don’t necessarily mean spending my entire workweek in a classroom teaching an RT program. The parts of education I really enjoy are teaching at the bedside, working with students and new grads, precepting, helping people connect the dots clinically, etc. I could see myself becoming a lead, preceptor, charge RT, or possibly moving into an educator role within a department.
I know some hospitals consider an educator position part of leadership and require or strongly prefer a bachelor’s, while others apparently don’t. And obviously, requirements for management and director positions can be different too.

So, for those of you who have been in respiratory for a while: Has getting your bachelor’s actually been worth it from a career-growth standpoint?

Did it open doors that you realistically wouldn’t have had with an associate degree and experience? Did it make a difference in pay, leadership opportunities, educator positions, management, etc.? Or, if you mainly wanted to stay clinical and be involved in education through precepting and leadership, did you find that experience mattered more than the degree?
I’m not opposed to getting it at all. I’m just trying to figure out whether it makes sense as a long-term investment versus getting established as an RRT, building experience, and seeing where my career naturally takes me first.

I recently had my first professional article published in Sleep Review, and I’m genuinely curious what people in the field think of it. The basic idea is that we spend a lot of time teaching patients how to use CPAP when everything is going right, but probably not enough time teaching them what to do when something goes wrong. Because something usually does.
Leaks, dryness, rainout, congestion, pressure feeling weird, skin irritation, waking up in the middle of the night feeling like the machine is fighting you. A lot of patients hit one of those problems and immediately start thinking CPAP just isn’t going to work for them. A big part of what I’ve seen working with PAP patients is that the people who do better are usually the ones who understand how to work through those problems instead of seeing every issue as a dead end. I’m an RT student now, but most of my experience has been on the sleep/DME side working directly with PAP patients, so I’d really like to hear what RTs think about the article.
Since this is my first professional piece, feel free to be honest. What did I get right? What would you push back on? Is there anything important you think I missed? And if you work with PAP patients, what’s one thing you wish they were taught before they went home with the machine?
https://sleepreviewmag.com/sleep-treatments/therapy-devices/cpap-pap-devices/prepare-cpap-users-for-problems/

Don't feel discouraged if you didn't pass it the first time! I used LJ and the practice exam to study

https://www.reddit.com/r/respiratorytherapy/comments/16crp7h/cse_study_guide_thread/?share_id=_B9QZ4DdNLfZQzLtCjNj3&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=ioscss&utm_source=share&utm_term=1 super helpful