Should Respiratory Care get its own mid-level provider credential?

Nurses General Nursing

Published

I know this is primarily a nursing forum, but Respiratory and RRT/RN dual title holders are also very prominent in this forum, but me being an RRT/and current PA student, I have an interest in this particular question:

Every profession in allied health has been trying to do everything humanly possible to try and advanced their professions (Except Radiology it seems), PT now requires a doctorate to practice, PA's will soon follow the NP's whom are also going to require the doctorate to practice at an advance level and for RN's, the entry level degree will now be the BSN. For respiratory the profession will also eventually go BSRT just like Nursing is, and by 2015 the CRT exam will be retired. There also has been talk about the possibility of giving RT its own mid level provider possibly called a CPP or Cardiopulmonary Practicioner or ACPS- Advanced Cardiopulmonary specialist, and also trying to expand the reach of the current and much lesser known cousin to the CRNA in the anesthesiologist assistant, which only has 37 states that use A.A's and only a handful of programs in the country.

What do you think of the prospect of giving RRT's its own mid level provider similar to the NP or PA?

I'd love to hear from anyone but particularly RRT-RN's on here

I agree with PMFB-RN, as well as Ktliz - many MDs think the length of MD edu is a joke, they feel that the first two years especially, could be totally dropped as a waste of time and money.

I have two degrees. Lets get serious. Higher education in many aspects has been one of the biggest scams around. Time to end it. When you are just a kid going to college for your first time, you tend to not question. But when you become a working adult, things should become clear to you, unless you are someone who just can't get it together at all, you should have realized you've been taken.

Heck, I felt that I had no need for my actual nursing classes. I wanted to eliminate the actual nursing class time. I am better on my own. I felt I could be on my own totally for the coursework, then, come in for evaluation/testing. I also ended up buying non nursing books to enhance my study. I ended up often only using those - excepting the NANDA crap, which I needed a nursing book for in order to pass testing (easy to eliminate nursing diagnosis from coursework - should be the first thing eliminated). Critical to me would be taking all class time away - but use that time to more than double clinical site time. The college should focus on having the best clinical teaching staff possible. Fearless awesome instructors only need apply. Any lab time can also be eliminated. I set up my own practice lab at home easily. Once I did that, I never went to the college lab except for eval. Many video's exist online of skills, and those were all I needed.

I'm one for just laying the truth out there for everybody to be forced to acknowledge and deal with. Most of what's present now needs to be eliminated. The entire system for Nursing and Medicine needs to be torn apart and reconstructed.

0 Votes

About the "MD shortage" I've been telling MDs I know online that they are going down the same road as nursing, as far as a fake "shortage" goes. They all bluster how they'll all just quit and show the world that with all the bad that has come from stellar mistakes they've made (joining the hospital networks and becoming employees, is the biggest one), this will be the cause of the shortage. LOL. I tell them that their employers are spending millions in think tank money trying to figure out a way they can get rid of MDs. That is more like what the problem is. It's either drastically reduce MD salary and/or eliminate every "power" they had now that they are employees of the network. This is happening and now, they see it in practice and see the comparisons to what has happened to nursing and yeah, they are scared. Think of that. There isn't much else that an MD qualifies for as far as employment goes, except try to scam their own... and that is another subject.

0 Votes

I had a foreign MD that couldn't find a residency (had been looking for 2 years) teach my physiology class, talk about scary!

0 Votes
Specializes in burn ICU, SICU, ER, Trauma Rapid Response.
I agree with PMFB-RN, as well as Ktliz - many MDs think the length of MD edu is a joke, they feel that the first two years especially, could be totally dropped as a waste of time and money.

*** The length of MD education acomplishes it's goal. That is to limit both the number of people who are willing to do it, and the type of people who can become physicians. They only want certain kinds of people to be MDs and one of the way they weed out the unwanted is the length and expence of education. Nursing is trying hard to do the same. Clearly the house wife in her 30's or the laid off factory workers who can become RNs in a couple - three years inexpensivly and close to their home via a community college as not what is wanted as the future of nursing. Better to drasticaly increase the time and expence (without providing anymore nursing education) and inconvenience but forcing anyone who wants to be an RN go to a university and spend tens of thousands on a BSN. The proposed BSN required is desinged to keep out those undesirable types.

0 Votes

It's only about the money - nothing else. Everything is easily understood if you look specifically at the motivation. Who pays whom off - that is what is most important to understand.

0 Votes
I had a foreign MD that couldn't find a residency (had been looking for 2 years) teach my physiology class, talk about scary!

Also, there are specialty fellowship trained MDs who cannot find employment in many areas. This is due to the fact that in many areas almost all MDs are employed with the large hospital networks. When there is demand for that specialty eg increase in patient need, those MDs simply are ordered to work more hours and travel to locations that have a patient increase. Remember, they don't set their own working conditions anymore - they are more and more like us now. They are told what to do and where to do it. So more and more often when a brand spank'in new fellowship trained doc interviews, even though the doctors in the big network in his specialty are overwhelmed, he has to hope to get hired. Sound familiar? Of course it does, because, in many areas an MD's life is becoming more and more similar to a nurse's. The employer wants to work with less, and will. Private practice is almost non-existent these days, simply because you cannot get referrals from other MDs who must refer only to MDs who work for their same employer. Does patient care suffer, YES. But that is not an issue. Nobody in administration really cares. It's only about the money.

0 Votes
Specializes in Critical Care, Education.

This is a really interesting thread. The OP reminds me of the old metaphor of the blind men trying to describe an elephant. Each of them drew conclusions based on their own (very limited) exposure to the big picture.

I wonder where the need yet another job title to help because of the looming 'shortage of pulmonologists' is coming from? In my neck of the woods (including my own plumonologist) they have AC- NPs working with them. Seems to be working out fine. I agree with the PPs who say we don't need any more alphabet soup of new titles in the mix. It would really be counter-productive since reimbursement is moving the other way... eliminating separate billing and making everyone share the pie.

0 Votes

"Looming shortage of pulmonologists" Pulmonary docs aren't the only ones practicing in critical care. ACNPs, Anesthesiologists, and surgical critical care.

0 Votes
"Looming shortage of pulmonologists" Pulmonary docs aren't the only ones practicing in critical care. ACNPs Anesthesiologists, and surgical critical care.[/quote']

There's a shortage of all of those types of providers maybe except for the ACNP

So to justify the need for advanced practice RT's ?? Why not....they have a knowledge base with the heart & lungs that's unrivaled among healthcare workers that have education equal to or less than a bachelors

So yes ...it can only help, but the only problem would be that these advanced RT's would only be able to focus on the pulmonary system.....

0 Votes
This is a really interesting thread. The OP reminds me of the old metaphor of the blind men trying to describe an elephant. Each of them drew conclusions based on their own (very limited) exposure to the big picture.

I wonder where the need yet another job title to help because of the looming 'shortage of pulmonologists' is coming from? In my neck of the woods (including my own plumonologist) they have AC- NPs working with them. Seems to be working out fine. I agree with the PPs who say we don't need any more alphabet soup of new titles in the mix. It would really be counter-productive since reimbursement is moving the other way... eliminating separate billing and making everyone share the pie.

Wow, I'm really amazed how rude some of you (not all of you) have been to the OP

You know, if you disagree with something, there is a proper and improper way to do it and I think you can be a little more respectful than calling someone a "blind man describing an elephant"

Even though that's one of the better ones.

This person is just asking for an opinion and and an honest mature discussion ...and do without the name calling please ?

And as far as someone else's post saying the next thing will be advanced practice Dental hygienists and pt assistants.... Your just being rude.

Now to answer the op properly and respectfully: I Think an advanced practice RT would be very beneficial to healthcare: to have someone be able to specialize even further on the two most critical body systems?

That's a huge asset to have ... And I do think respiratory care is capable of doing that , but there is a lot of politics and red tape to go through

Plus there are already NP's and PA's already. One of the purposes of mid levels has always been to help relieve shortages and reach care to areas and populations that don't have them....and they have done that ...but not as we'll as we'd like.

Now if your area seems like there are no shortages of Doctors, NP's and PA's....then good for you, but that doesn't mean that according to research that they're not out there...but I don't know this as a fact, I'm going by what I've read and heard.

0 Votes

I will say that the status quo of just having PA's and NP's is good enough

But if they determine that a decade or two from now that they need to find away to alleviate the shortage of pulmonologists, if there ends up being one of course...then yes an advanced practice RT may be an option to explore...

Many nurses don't have respect for RT's and only view them as neb jockeys and don't think they're capable of doing more and that's a shame....because nursing has come a long way itself as a profession, I don't see why respiratory can't ?

0 Votes
And as far as someone else's post saying the next thing will be advanced practice Dental hygienists and pt assistants.... Your just being rude. .
FYI: Advanced Practice dental hygienist is a real thing, or atleast in the works. See here: http://www.nationaloralhealthconference.com/docs/presentations/2006/0502/Wendy%20Kerschbaum%20NOHC%20Presentation.pdf
0 Votes
+ Add a Comment