This is my first post, however, I am not a nurse. I have been thinking about nursing for quite some time, but I have decided to go for a specialty at this point, since I am what-they-call a "non-traditional" student (52 y.o., with other degrees). I am looking at being a respiratory care therapist. I see that the nurses involved in pulmonory care are enjoying it. I would love to have your impressions. Would I have to kow a lot of chemistry? I was pretty good at chemistry but I can't say that it is the only thing I want to do. I have not been able to observe respiratory care at a hospital. I have read some of your threads and I get intimidated at the extent of your knowledge in respiratory care, and I wonder if I will ever be able to master the material like you!

Thank you very much for your responses.

Hello quovadis,

i am new respiratory grad in canada, i am trying to enroll in nursing just to combine the 2.

respiratory therapy is hard on technical (ie. mechanical ventilation, pulmonary function, xrays, lots of a/w management tools - bronchoscopes, laryngoscopes, etc) if you have a mechanical/techical aptitude - go for it. Most RTs deal with patients that are critically ill (ICU) so alot of their assesment are based here - lungs / cardiovascular/ etc. If you like working with people and patient interaction then go for nursing, much more goes into assessment and patient care.

In terms of basic science, physics / chemistry is not a big deal. The only importance of chemistry is ACID/BASE but you have a full course on that. If you do decide for RT, know your ANATOMY (upper a/w) lots of testing during your clinicals at emerge for that to make sure u know your placements. mechanical ventilation will not be too bad - just lots of practice. RESP patho will be the most critical subject, you need this knowledge to apply your theory during clinicals.

I was originally into nursing but i was in a waitlist, so i decided to look RT up before going for RN. I loved RT so much, that i decided to finish the program. Now I'm applying to schools and getting credit for some of the courses.

hope this helps.

This is my first post, however, I am not a nurse. I have been thinking about nursing for quite some time, but I have decided to go for a specialty at this point, since I am what-they-call a "non-traditional" student (52 y.o., with other degrees). I am looking at being a respiratory care therapist. I see that the nurses involved in pulmonory care are enjoying it. I would love to have your impressions. Would I have to kow a lot of chemistry? I was pretty good at chemistry but I can't say that it is the only thing I want to do. I have not been able to observe respiratory care at a hospital. I have read some of your threads and I get intimidated at the extent of your knowledge in respiratory care, and I wonder if I will ever be able to master the material like you!

Thank you very much for your responses.

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As a 26 yr veteren in Respiratory Therapy,I will try to help.

Can you take learn on the job training,and do you know what is involved?

or do you want to take the 2-3 yr course,it's not a walk in the park.

With inservice and helping other R.Ts you can learn gradually and ask as many questions as you need clarified. Chemistry will be of little use.

A good R.T should be able to troubleshoot Ventilators,if you are real good,you

will be able to tell what is wrong before you get to the ventilator.

Tough things to learn are,interpreting A.B.G.values which would be PO2-PCO2-

NaHCO3-O2 Saturation-V.D=Dead space criteria.You MUST want to do this

well.Have you been to cardiac arrests? Do they scare you?Your all set...

Hope this helped if not,ask an R.T.where you work-------NRSDUG/RT :imbar