RRT_charlie

Latest Activity

1. Any Excelsior grads have a hard time finding employment?

   RRT_charlie posted a topic in Excelsior

   I'm just wondering if anyone has run into a problem of employers being concerned about the RN program being totally online with not much clinical hands on teaching. My situation is a bit unique. I'm a Registered Respiratory Therapist with 1 year exp...

2. Passed Transitions today...WHEW!

   RRT_charlie replied to nursejessica2013's topic in Excelsior

   Yay! Congrats! I, too, passed Transitions on the same day! I also got a C! haha You are right about the material being really dry and boring. And truth be told I didn't really study very much. I barely even opened a book, so I will take that C! Now...

3. COPD

   RRT_charlie replied to Grasshopper11's topic in Med-Surg

   In respiratory school, instead of harping on this theory of knocking out a COPDers hypoxic drive, we are told time and time again to NEVER withold oxygen from a patient of any kind at any time if they are in need of it. I feel like nurses have this h...

4. Nebulizer and Oxygen via nasal cannula

   RRT_charlie replied to nurseirene112's topic in Pulmonary

   I"m an RT. I usually just leave in the cannula. I always try to run my nebs off RA for every patient, just because I"m too lazy to start another O2 hookup. For COPDers, (or almost any patient for that matter) you are NOT going to over oxygenate them...

5. physician ordered patient driven ventilator protocol

   RRT_charlie replied to Cardiology32's topic in Pulmonary

   We use PDP's for both bipaps and vents at my hospital. What type of info are you looking for? With bipaps, at my place we do not need a dr's orders to get an ABG. If the ABG is bad, we are allowed to slap the pt on bipap and titrate the settings to ...

6. Judging when to suction trach

   RRT_charlie replied to Maddy_Rose's topic in Pulmonary

   It takes time to learn when a patient *really* needs to be suctioned and it helps to get to know the patient. If the trach is Keeping an eye on their vitals is also a good indicator of when suctioning might need to be performed. If their sats drop t...

7. Any tips for new job?

   RRT_charlie replied to lilaclover6984's topic in Pulmonary

   I'm a Registered Respiratory Therapist. One piece of advice that I can give you is to not be afraid to rely on the respiratory therapist assigned to your unit. If you feel like you're in over your head, or the patient is going down the tubes, or even...

8. having success with Sociology?

   RRT_charlie replied to prettyplay24's topic in Excelsior

   Yes, I am! I just turned in the very last of my assigned coursework this afternoon. I took the accelerated 8 week course through EC. The reading wasn't too bad; 2 chapters a week, 2 discussion board posting with replies, and usually an essay or so. I...

9. Finished pre-reqs now have questions - please help!

   RRT_charlie posted a topic in Excelsior

   So I'm a week away from finishing my pre-req's. I'd like to next start on studying for my core nursing classes. But I'm a little confused as to what the next step is. 1) How do I know which books I need for which exams? For instance, I want to start...

10. COPD & NRB your input please

    RRT_charlie replied to crb613's topic in Pulmonary

    I would have kept the pt on the NRB while drawing the gas, but I also would have been seriously considering putting the pt on Bipap. It sounds like this particular pt needed the PS for WOB - a NRB would have given them a higher O2 concentration but w...

11. Can an LPN function as an RT?

    RRT_charlie replied to RespiratoryGirl011's topic in Pulmonary

    An LPN can't function as an RT, as they are two different degrees and specialties. However, sometimes LPN's (as well as RN's) can perform some basic RT duties (MDI's, suctioning, etc) , and sometimes RT's can perform some basic RN duties (EKG's, ches...

12. Non rebreather mask

    RRT_charlie replied to Vtachy1's topic in Pulmonary

    I would notify the RT as well. Why was the pt on a NRB to begin with? Generally, pt's are put on a NRB when they require a higher O2 concentration (if this had been the reason they were wearing the NRB, a nasal cannula wouldn't have cut it - but I su...