NEWRRT

Wow that is quick! I have a to pretty much start from scratch because I basically only have my pre reqs. My respiratory school was through a vocational so Excelsior won't take any credits from them. Thank you!

To finish your ADN though Excelsior?

Beeks how long have you been an RRT?

Congrats!!!

It has been almost a year exactly since I posted this and am back to thinking about Excelsior again. I have been working as an RRT for 9 months and love it, particularly the ER. As much as I love being an RT I feel as if there isn't as much room to grow as there is in nursing, hence my consideration of Excelsior's program once again. I need to just go for it! I don't know why I get cold feet every time I think of enrolling.

Hello! I am just curious if the Excelsior classes or tests have any material on I.V.'s, medications, and medication calculation/dosages. I am interested in the program but as a working respiratory therapist I never learned this type of stuff in school and the nurses I work with at the hospital are too busy to sit and explain stuff to me. I would feel more comfortable knowing I will be learning similar stuff to what other nursing students learn. Thanks for your help :)

Well, RN jobs are much more needed at the hospitals. The hospital I did clinicals at had about 4 to 5 RT's working at a time for the whole hospital as opposed to at least 6 or more nurses a floor. The hospital I applied at I think there are only 1 or 2 working at a time. I am always seeing openings for nurses. The hospital I did clinicals at has at least 15 RN openings and no RT openings. So the RT jobs are harder to come by. It seems nursing always has some kind of opening. So I will probably go through Excelsior for my RN eventually so when we move, most likely to an even more rural area, I will be able to work. I am hoping I get this postion. The Cardiopulmonary Director who called me to set up my interview knows I am from out of town and have the pass to get through during the winter so I am hoping we can work something out. I have three children and my husband will be gone for six months starting in August, so I'm not sure if staying the night in the town will be an option or not. I am hoping that they will be willing to work with me as I find a nanny and figure out how the situation will work. So stressful!

Thanks for your input! I am thinking of trying to get a PRN position and work on my RN through Excelsior while working. I'm just afraid I will have a hard time getting a PRN position due to the rural area I live in.

Hello everyone! I was a medic in the Army 6 years ago and just finished Respiratory Therapy school (Independence University) in Janurary. I have an interview at a hospital this week for a respiratory position. The only problem is that it is 45 minutes away and I have to drive over a mountain pass that is frequently closed between October-March. I live in a rural area so I don't have a lot of options to work in this field. I would love to attend Excelsior but I'm afraid that I will still have a hard time finding a job, seeing as I will still have no current work experience by the time I'm done. Should I just apply to a brick and mortor school for nursing or will my experience as a medic and respiratory clinicals be somewhat sufficent? It has been 6 years but as a medic I learned to start I.V.'s, blood draws, vitals, vaccinations etc. Thanks for the help!