Nurse vs Respiratory Therapist

tmw73 · Mar 10, 2018

You can't be serious..no program is tougher than Nursing?my wife is a nurse and I could pass nursing by challenging the test after RT school..that's not a knock on nursing but I think Respiratory is harder having taught a couple of nurses myself..I think if you start either way it'll be easier for you but I seriously doubt Nursing is harder than Respiratory..there are ALOT OF calculations and equipment you need to learn outside if the body..physics and trouble shooting equipment..not just patient care..

tmw73 · Mar 10, 2018

Also there is a path to graduate school for RT..We can go to P.A. school with a BS AND THEY ARE coning out with APRT which is the same as an ARNP in the coming years..Respiratory is still growing plus we are allowed to use our skills and knowledge that's why so many people stay and are happy..I live my nurses and couldn't do my jib without a good one but Respiratory is a good field to go into..the pay is good and we make more then nurses or the same here..I wouldn't be a nurse because there were things I didn't want to do like cleaning someone but I did consider it..I think it's a very noble field and my hat goes off to you guys..nothing but love for you..i respect every nurse I work with and come across..I just can't stand the nurse wratchet..those I like to challenge..either is a good move..good luck to you..

BreatheDeep · Mar 18, 2018

I suck at things...real message is below

BreatheDeep · Mar 18, 2018

Also there is a path to graduate school for RT..We can go to P.A. school with a BS AND THEY ARE coning out with APRT which is the same as an ARNP in the coming years

Have you looked at OSU's new APRT program? They have apparently just received acceptance from the Medical and Nursing faculty for the program. It will be Masters level, the RT's will sit in half of their classes right along-side the NP's (systemic path, pharmacology, physical assessment) and will also have further classes taught by the medical faculty (Diagnostic medicine, ICU management, mechanical circulatory support (IABP, VAD, ECMO, Impellas), procedural skills - Swan/A-line/CVC insertion, chest tubes, tracheostomy, bronchoscopy, intubation, etc.

Personally I really like how both the nursing and medicine sides not only accepted them, but opened their doors to the APRT program so that a whole new curriculum won't need to be made. Its a nice fusion of Nursing and Medicine, which is perfect as that's kind of the area where RT's already sit.

My own inside political source has told me that California and North Carolina are also looking to push for the APRT after OSU serves as the vanguard (with, it looks like Duke and Loma Linda being the most likely first options for APRT programs), and if all goes well they're also working with the nursing and medical boards to make the APRT truly a collaborative professional who can serve in a specific niche (looks to be shaping up primarily as a direct extender to the pulmonologist in both the clinic and ICU setting, and possibly to CT Surgery/Interventional Cardiology - although that might be more of a pipe-dream, as PA's are already pretty active in that area). For what it's worth the ASA, ACCP, and ATS have all signed off on the APRT and given it their full approval, and the ATS specifically has sent a full letter of support for APRT's to operate in the Pulmonology realm along side Pulmonologists.

It will still probably be a good 10+ years before the APRT is really a thing, and there are many mountains to scale first, but getting one program approved already with state legal blessing and physician approval is a huge first step. Definitely exciting times!

MykRTstudent · Jul 28, 2018

To make a long story short: I was in nursing school for about a year and absolutely hated it. Once I stepped into clinical and had to bathe people, clean up **** and pretty much be a servant to the patient (that's what it felt like) I knew it wasn't my thing. I also had a very hard time with the nursing test questions, the whole "critical thinking" killed me. I felt like no matter how much I studied I would always make C's on tests and had to be a very good guesser to get through school.

So anyway, I left nursing school and turned to respiratory therapy and absolutely love it! I'm about to be done my first year of the program.. I feel like I'm learning so much more than I ever did in nursing school and things just make so much more sense to me now. I'm currently in summer clinical which is very intensive, 40 hours a week and I know this is a much better fit for me. Funny story, I was helping 2 nurses transport a patient and as soon as we got the patient into the room she had a BM... let me tell you how great it felt to say "alright, my job here is done" and leave the room while the nurses cleaned that up haha.

Is the schooling for Respiratory Therapy easy? No. It involves a lot of information in a short time and requires many hours outside of class in terms of study and practice. However, is it easier than nursing school was? For me, yes it is. Don't listen to those that call it a "dead end career", it may not be as flexible as nursing but that's in part because it's a much younger career than nursing. You can go into managing, teaching, and I know a couple RRT's that got their MBA and went into sales, business, etc. related to respiratory. It is a great career always in demand, most nurses do not have anywhere near the pulmonary knowledge that we do. In the ICU the other day I was teaching a nurse about ventilators and I'm still a student!

BreatheDeep · Aug 17, 2018

To make a long story short: I was in nursing school for about a year and absolutely hated it...Etc., Etc.

MykRTstudent,

From one RT to another, I would suggest that you be careful with your tone and what you say next time you post. Every nurses scope goes far beyond just bathing and ADL's, which I know you know. And trust me, nobody is more aware of the bullsh*t they have to put with from patients than they are - so no need to remind them of that.

Not trying to call you out here, just a reminder that allnurses is their home, so try not to antagonize them is all.

In regards to that ICU nurse you taught about vents, I'm sure you were able to teach her plenty, and hopefully she's a better nurse for it. While you were in there, by any chance did you take the opportunity to ask her to teach you about the management of vasoactive drips, sedation and analgesia, or tips for interpreting that patients clinical labwork and chemistry?

MykRTstudent · Aug 23, 2018

MykRTstudent,
From one RT to another, I would suggest that you be careful with your tone and what you say next time you post. Every nurses scope goes far beyond just bathing and ADL's, which I know you know. And trust me, nobody is more aware of the bullsh*t they have to put with from patients than they are - so no need to remind them of that.
Not trying to call you out here, just a reminder that allnurses is their home, so try not to antagonize them is all.
In regards to that ICU nurse you taught about vents, I'm sure you were able to teach her plenty, and hopefully she's a better nurse for it. While you were in there, by any chance did you take the opportunity to ask her to teach you about the management of vasoactive drips, sedation and analgesia, or tips for interpreting that patients clinical labwork and chemistry?

Didn't mean to "antagonize" anybody, apologies if I did, that certainly wasn't my intention. And of course I know that nurses's scope of practice is well beyond the cleaning below the waist stuff, but let's be honest, it's a rather large part of their daily responsibilities, is it not? I was just giving my honest two cents of why I hated nursing school and the OP was asking for differences between nursing and respiratory. I have nothing against nurses they are responsible for so much and are by far the busiest people in the hospital setting. In my experience so far I have met *SOME* nurses that are highly ignorant of RT's scope of practice and have a condescending attitude toward us (thinking they know it all, how to do RT's job) but like I said, I've only run into 2 nurses like this and I know not all of them think this way. And about the nurse I taught, she was a fairly new nurse asking me questions about ventilator modes, so I was just explaining them to her. If I had a question for her about something nursing related I'd be more than happy to ask her.

BreatheDeep · Aug 30, 2018

No worries mate, just want to make sure you're aware. Also, this is the internet, so while you may feel some way its also impossible for anyone else to truly comprehend anything other than the words plainly written on the page.

And no, not necessarily it isn't. Where I work we have abundant PCA's, who are essentially just CNA's, who do the majority of ADL related stuff including feeding, cleaning, etc. Not the same everywhere of course, but it's still awesome. The nurses are much happier, and in the ICU it's incredibly useful as it gives them more time to focus on the things they need to do.

Even places that don't have PCA/CNA's, a nurses role is still so much larger than cleaning/feeding/etc. They're still the ones responsible for the entire patient, which encompasses so much more than just GI functions.

And yes, you're going to find tons of that, no matter where you go. You'll still find doctors and nurses that call you the "respiratory tech". You'll find nurses who think RT is just a 1 year diploma program, or some OJT type of deal.

It used to annoy me, but then one day I just kind of realized - why would they have any idea in the first place? Unless they went to RT school, or did their own research, they would have no way of knowing that our educations are, essentially, exactly the same in volume, merely focused in different areas. Likewise, they're similarly not going to be aware of the amount of depth our education covers in regards to cardiopulmonary A&P, pathophysiology, or mechanical ventilation, unless they go out of their way to learn about it.

I've gotten crazy looks from nurses before when I tell them I intubate, and needle decompress pneumo's, and insert art and central lines, and run ECMO and IABP's. I just take it in stride. Peoples perceptions are molded around what they see, so honestly, if they only see the RT doing nebs all day what cause would they have to think we did anything else?

Just take it in stride and keep moving. If you're particularly motivated turn it into a teaching moment if you can. Otherwise, don't trip about it. Just do your job, study your ass off and be a resource for those around you, and the respect of your peers will come naturally. And if you do that and they're still miserable towards you? Then **** 'em, there's enough misery in this world already, don't add to it. Just work to make your little corner of the universe better than you found it and sleep easy at night.

MykRTstudent · Sep 1, 2018

No worries mate, just want to make sure you're aware. Also, this is the internet, so while you may feel some way its also impossible for anyone else to truly comprehend anything other than the words plainly written on the page.
And no, not necessarily it isn't. Where I work we have abundant PCA's, who are essentially just CNA's, who do the majority of ADL related stuff including feeding, cleaning, etc. Not the same everywhere of course, but it's still awesome. The nurses are much happier, and in the ICU it's incredibly useful as it gives them more time to focus on the things they need to do.
Even places that don't have PCA/CNA's, a nurses role is still so much larger than cleaning/feeding/etc. They're still the ones responsible for the entire patient, which encompasses so much more than just GI functions.
And yes, you're going to find tons of that, no matter where you go. You'll still find doctors and nurses that call you the "respiratory tech". You'll find nurses who think RT is just a 1 year diploma program, or some OJT type of deal.
It used to annoy me, but then one day I just kind of realized - why would they have any idea in the first place? Unless they went to RT school, or did their own research, they would have no way of knowing that our educations are, essentially, exactly the same in volume, merely focused in different areas. Likewise, they're similarly not going to be aware of the amount of depth our education covers in regards to cardiopulmonary A&P, pathophysiology, or mechanical ventilation, unless they go out of their way to learn about it.
I've gotten crazy looks from nurses before when I tell them I intubate, and needle decompress pneumo's, and insert art and central lines, and run ECMO and IABP's. I just take it in stride. Peoples perceptions are molded around what they see, so honestly, if they only see the RT doing nebs all day what cause would they have to think we did anything else?
Just take it in stride and keep moving. If you're particularly motivated turn it into a teaching moment if you can. Otherwise, don't trip about it. Just do your job, study your ass off and be a resource for those around you, and the respect of your peers will come naturally. And if you do that and they're still miserable towards you? Then **** 'em, there's enough misery in this world already, don't add to it. Just work to make your little corner of the universe better than you found it and sleep easy at night.

True, good points you're making, thanks for that. I love the field of respiratory care so far, the lack of respect/recognition is something I hope changes in the future. Many nursing schools fail to educate students on the role of the respiratory therapist and their job as members of the healthcare team. I know this is true because I was in nursing school for a year. Right away in fundamentals of nursing class, there was a unit in which we were taught about the various members of the healthcare team- they mentioned doctors, pharmacists, CNA's, even nutritionists. They completely failed to mention respiratory therpists at all even went we spent a brief time studying simple O2 devices! I had no idea what a RT was until I got into my peds clinical rotation, where I watched one for the first time and became very interested. Also very, very few people outside of health care know what a RT is. Whenever I tell someone that I'm in school to be a respiratory therapist, I'll have to then explain to them what that is 90% of the time. And I hear you about degree requirements, I've had one person assume that I'm studying in a certificate program! Pretty disrespectful IMO. As you know RT's have an associates degree at minimum, and the expected requirement is changing to a bachelors degree very soon probably within the next decade.

Anyway, your scope of practice sounds incredibly hands on and amazing ! What state are you in? I'm hoping that intubation by RT's becomes the norm soon. I know that this is still a growing field which is very exciting to be a part of.