Out of scope or being a professional?

UndecidedNso.cal said:

I'm new to the world of nursing and hospital enviroment and hear alot about scope of practice and such . But a couple days ago while going about my non medical staff duties in the ER waiting area behind the desk of the ER waiting room R.N'S desk. In our hospital we have a R.N. behind a desk in the E.R. for obvious reasons. Anyhow while talking to the RRT who is friends with the R.N. who was assigned the desk that particular night. Anyhow to the point the RRT was talkin with me about schoolin and such while the R.N. took a patitent to the back, when a lady with a 4 month old came flying in sayin her baby isn't breathing very well and even in my non skilled eyes I could see something is wrong, The RT had her put the baby carrier on the desk and put that little machine with red light on it that goes on your finger or foot (pulse ox) I hear them say that anyhow he used his stethascope did some other little things and took the baby to the back. Since that is a RN'S post to work so to speak was the RT out of scope or acting as a medically trained professional, in your opinion ? I look at him as someone who saw something knew what he was doing and acted but like I said I;m not medically trained!

he did the right thing

As an RRT he definitely was within his scope of practice.

Where I work, it is the registered respiratory therapist (rrt) who responds to that code. the person would have been well within their scope of practice here.

In our unit (neonatal ICU) all the RRT's are trained in infant intubation and only a rare RN is trained in infant intubation. They are the "go to" professionals for all matters of breathing, oxygen, breathing treatments or vents (and more, but I'll keep it short). Most places RRT's are highly skilled and are "medically trained" professionals with their length of education being comparable to RN's (I think there are two levels of RT, RRT's being the longer educational route).

Now, what your particular hospital's policy is regarding who should be at the desk, that I can't answer, but in general I need an RT (be they CRRT or RRT) at my side when things go south. I think they would be an excellent person to initially respond to an complaint of an infant not breathing.

Yeah I kinda figured it was okay but wasn't sure , the ER desk is a RN assigned position. He just happened to be there while his buddy (the RN assigned to the desk) took a patient back to the back. And she just happened to come into the ER with the infant. I asked the RN after posting this last night and he said if someone isnt breathing good and they are that young what better than to have RRT standing around LOL he kinda made a joke about it then seriously replied if he hadn't took action as a medically trained professional He'd lose some respect real quick and me and him would have a talk!!! Iv'e seen RT vs RN post and asked him about that he said dude it's called a Health care TEAM!!!

Rules are rules; roles are roles, and scopes are scopes.... BUT, in an emergency, you do the best you can for the patient while hollering for "qualified" help.

The pt always comes first.

What he did would have been within his scope of practice for a RRT everywhere I've worked.

It would have been within any medical professional's scope of practice to do that. The RN was not there, he was. He assessed the baby's breathing difficulties and acted on it. Had there been a CNA there and it was obvious the baby was not looking good, the CNA would have been within his/her scope to do the same thing.

If the Rn had been there,sooner or later she/he would be calling for the services of the RT anyway for o2, intubation, breathing treatment,abg or whatever. This baby was lucky because it didn't have to wait for the RT to be called.

He assessed the patients respiratory status and brought the baby back to those who were going to help. Sounds good to me.

[ This baby was lucky because it didn't have to wait for the RT to be called.

Thats what the assigned R.N. was makin light of , when he said what better then to have a RT standin right there. I asked a little more about the situation and all the RN's RT's Md's said man if someone collapses outt here which it can I'm sure it will or does it's within anyone scopes to yell Doctor or grab anyone with medical training be RT , RN ,CNA ,Ultrasound , they even said X-ray techs have BLS?? I guess when it's a emergency it's within everyone scopes to yell or get ur ass up and get someone who can help LOL