Help me choose!! Respiratory or RN?

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I am trying so hard to make the right choice. I applied and was accepted to nursing school and respiratory therapy school. Both programs had the same pre-req's and I spent the last yr completing those. Also, both programs are 4 semesters. The respiratory program is an advanced program, which will qualify me for the RRT exams. It is also the only program in my state that graduates in Dec., instead of May, so jobs should be easier to find(according to past students). I went ahead and went to orientation for both, and explained my dilemma to both directors. I have to make a choice by Monday(tomorrow). I know that RT's make about 5,000-10,000 less a yr than an RN. But, do you honestly think it is worth all the stuff that RN's put up with. If you could do it over, which would you choose? The extra few hundred a month would be nice, but it's not that much, and money can't buy real job satisfaction. Please help!!

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i would go for the RN but i might have a biased opinion since i want to be a nurse more than anything haha but if you think being a RN isnt a good choice for you dont do it or maybe you could do both evenutally? i chose being a RN because i love helping people, love the medical feild, love the different jobs i can get with being a nurse, theres somethign new everyday and i feel like ill never get sick of it and if i do theres always somewhere else in nursing i can go into tha wil suit me better and of course the money is good but that isnt a huge reason why i chose it.... good luck!

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I don't think we're going to know enough about you to advise =/

Choosing a "satisfying" job, especially one that can be as tough AND rewarding as nursing, is a very personal decision which for many people becomes a spiritual issue. It would be the answer to this question: what is it that your heart really drives you to do when you wake up in the morning?

You seem to be looking for practical advice about whether the job is good enough to put up will all the garbage that nurses have to cope with. The truth is that's extremely subjective. Someone close to you could probably evaluate better based on your personality, but it still has to be your decision.

If you wish to "help people," to try and help them get better from their illnesses, and are interested in health care, nursing and respiratory therapy are both career choices that satisfy those goals. But the kind of interaction you will have as a nurse will be very different from what you have as a respiratory therapist. Think about that. If you don't know about it, you may want to read something in-depth about each type of interaction.

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Specializes in ICU, prior telemetry experience.

Be an RT!!! That would be my choice after being an RN. Less responsibility, less crap to deal with.

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Ortho, ASC.

I don't know that it's necessarily true that RT's make less than RN's. Are you sure about that?

As an RN, I can say that I sometimes look enviously upon the RT (or other patient care specialists), who only carry responsibility for one part of the patient's care. They come when scheduled or when called, treat and are able to move onto the next patient. They have one area of responsibility and they (at least the good ones) know it inside and out.

RN's, on the other hand, are responsible for the whole patient, including coordination of all of those specialists. That of course includes alot of headaches. Some days and for some people, being responsible for total care coordination is a good thing. Other days and for other types of people, only carrying responsibility for one aspect of patient care is a good thing. It really will come down to what you hope to do in your career and how you envsion yourself caring for patients.

Good luck in your decision-making process.

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Perform suction on 1 trach.... if you dont cringe, then go ahead and think about being an RT. :uhoh3: seriously though, I love being a nurse. one of the things I like most is the potential for versatility, my job could look 100 different ways. Any nurse that ever complains of being "burned out" has nobody to blame but themselves. I say RN.

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Specializes in LTC, OB/GYN, Primary Care.

If I had to do it all over again I would choose RT! I am an LPN and I am thinking about going into sonography instead of completing my RN due to my experience so far with nursing. I LOVE the medical field I LOVE my pts but all the BS...yeah no thanks!

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Since you haven't expressed a strong preference one over the other, I'd go with the RN program, if only because as an RN you can practice in any field of medicine. As an RT, well, you work in respiratory, which isn't bad, if that's what you stimulates you and provides you satisfaction. But nursing is the kind of profession that can grow with you as you grow older and your "tastes" change, so to speak.

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My mom's a RRT and I recently asked her the same question. She said that if she could do it again, she'd be an RN because there are more opportunities for advancement. That's a good point, but so is the one about having to put up with less crap... but my mom still changes bed pans and stuff. All the non-nursing clinical staff had to get certified in patient care or something. She works exclusively in the ICU, though, and doesn't travel around the hospital.

Also, due to the nature of the job, RTs always have to deal with codes/vents/death. As an RN, you have the option to seek a job that's less death-intense if you ever feel the need.

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I agree that, without knowing you, it is hard to really give any advice. I am an RN, and while the RT's I work with seem to like their jobs, the only downside I see is less opportunity. Becoming an RN will give you SOOO many different avenues to choose from. You are right- it should not be about the money. Do what makes YOU happy :D Best of luck!

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Thanks for everyone's replies. :heartbeat This has been SUCH a hard choice. If anyone has any more advice, i'm open to it. As for my personality, I am very caring and enjoy patient care, but I also enjoy the technology part of healthcare. I would enjoy the responsibility of responding to codes, putting the sickest NICU babies on vents, etc. If I lived in a larger town (i live in a very small town, with a mid-sized town 30 min away), I would say nursing b/c I would have the opportunity to work an an RN in the NICU, ICU, etc. However, the NICU in the mid sized town is very small, and ICU also very small. No PICU's, etc. So, the nurses i've talked to say that my first job would be med-surg, or LTC. I have no problem with the death aspect of it, both my children have been critically ill at one point, and I feel that I can seperate myself from my emotions and do my job, and I handle stressful situations well. I m truly 50/50 on this, and it's killing me. I also feel bad b/c there is a HUGE waiting list to get into both programs, and almost 300 applied to each and only 40 got in to each. So, I know I need to make a choice ASAP so they will still have time to let an alternate in. It may even be too late for that, since orientation is over. Hopefully not. I know that either choice will be a good choice. Thanks again to everyone who replied.

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