[PageRespiratory!]

Holy Jeez, you're right I don't even know how I was suscribed to this thread! I now see how ancient threads get resurected. Aussie nurses do just fine because they get the training a therapist gets stateside. It's true RT's are not the primary caregiver, but "supplemental" I think not. At the the hospital where I work , the order usually reads: vent settings as per RT, wean to extubate as per RT. And so on and so on. Therapist driven protocols. Many institutions view RT's as physician extenders. I'm not trying to start a ******* contest, I have a great deal of respect for a lot of nurses as well as therapists. An ICU nurse with 20 years of experience probably has a pretty damned good idea about vents and such. The same could be said for an RT about "nursing duties". That being said, most people who've done both (I Know quite a few) will agree RT school is WAY more, lets say challenging. Be honest, during your first RN degree how lond did you spend studying things like the alveolar air equation, shunt equation, Henderson-Hasselbalch equation, the oxygen content equation,gas laws, air entrainment ratios, and even surface tension (pulmonary surfactant). In my class we had 2 RN's and an MBA, and all 3 failed out. And yes, one can get an MS in respiratory.
Unfortunately we don't have the proffessional advocacy that you guys have (much younger proffession) and therefore, have less clinical advancement. In Canada, a lot of therapists' go on to practice anesthesia. Much like the CRNA's here. Again, I'm not trying to start a contest here. If you were my co-worker, I bet you'd have a whole new respect for us, and would never hesitate to "page respiratory". I'm sure there are a lot of things from a nursing standpoint you could educate me about, and I bet there are a number of things from a respiratory standpoint I could educate you about. We play for the same team.

[RN1980]

pawpaw john, i enjoyed you using the "wet balloon" variable in explaning surface tension. it has been explained to me in a very similair way in many lectures. glad to see that there are folks that can easily explain something that would require others to break open a physics book that would lead to this law or that law..but anyway i like the way you broke it down to a very simplistic form for someone who very well may be just now trying to grasp the concept of surface tension,surfactant and compliance.

[panamabrt]

Way to say it 'page respiratory'...!!! For some reason it seems to be a constant challenge b/t the two. I am an RRT and a BSN and to be honest RRT was extremely difficult but then nursing was difficult in a different way.

As the nurse learns about the systems (Heart, Lung, Liver, Bladder etc...) The RRT must learn how these systems affect ventilation which include very detailed information. Our field is more about precise measurments of how ventilation occurs, nursing hits just the main topics.

So really if we all learn to love what we have learned in school and expand our knowledge base and work as a team, we can all be an integral, interdisciplinary team player for the patient

With friends like us...who needs enemas !!!

[danissa]

[quote=panamabrt;2583042
With friends like us...who needs enemas !!![/QUOTE]

LOVE That!!! You Clever thing you!!!

[panamabrt]

why thank you danissa

Have a good day and write back some time !