Question about nursing and RRT

offlabel · Jan 2, 2016

RRT's are well trained professionals with an impressive scope of practice, especially in critical care. Their horizon is limited, though, in terms of professional advancement compared with nursing. My opinion only, but if you see yourself spending your career at the bedside or teaching, I'd go RRT. If you see yourself wanting to spread your wings at some point, BSN.

ED Nurse, RN · Jan 2, 2016

If poop bothers you try a trach that is spewing phlegm and nastiness across the room- for some reason typically with 100% accuracy in hitting someone.

Ryan Walker · Jan 2, 2016

I definitely want more of a varied option for future advancement in the career, so that's why nursing sound better. Are you a nurse or RRT? If so, do you see a certain type of personality in either of the fields?

Ryan Walker · Jan 2, 2016

If poop bothers you try a trach that is spewing phlegm and nastiness across the room- for some reason typically with 100% accuracy in hitting someone.

Do you think that if I am already having an issue with the poop clean-up, that is really going to effect me to the point of changing careers after I finish (if I make it through) school? Any advice on this from an RN, like yourself, would be greatly appreciated.

ED Nurse, RN · Jan 2, 2016

To be honest, poop is my least problem, unless the pt has been laying in it for days/weeks and is found by family and then brought in by EMS. I have built up quite a tolerance. If you can't handle poop, or other bodily fluids, then nursing is not for you, unless you can build a tolerance. I deal with poop multiple times a shift- you have to do it.

heinz57 · Jan 2, 2016

Dealing with odors and body fluids is something you will have to master in any bedside health care profession. If you really think you can't, reconsider health care. It would be extremely bad if you were an RT who left the room and refused to work a critical patient, including intubation, because the patient smelled bad and had a BM. The better RTs will stick around and help the RNs clean a patient especially if a ventilator is involved. If you can't be counted on assist a patient with basic bodily functions, you are of no use for either profession. Would you want either an RN or an RT to walk out on your loved one because they messed themselves?

If you can overcome the BM, body fluids and infectious diseases, nursing should probably be your first choice. It would also give you more opportunity to work in a cleaner environment someday. RT is not a strong profession. I asked the question here about how who does the ABGs at their hospital but unfortunately didn't get much response. We recently had a couple travel RTs who were trying to do the ABGs. RNs, Lab and Doctors only do ABGs in my part of the country. Nursing also does all the MDIs and nebulizers. RNs can also manage their own ventilators in some units. It is hard in some places for RNs to find a job especially if they don't have a BSN. It is even harder for RTs to find jobs due to cut backs where duplication of skills is unnecessary.

Ryan Walker · Jan 2, 2016

Dealing with odors and body fluids is something you will have to master in any bedside health care profession. If you really think you can't, reconsider health care. It would be extremely bad if you were an RT who left the room and refused to work a critical patient, including intubation, because the patient smelled bad and had a BM. The better RTs will stick around and help the RNs clean a patient especially if a ventilator is involved. If you can't be counted on assist a patient with basic bodily functions, you are of no use for either profession. Would you want either an RN or an RT to walk out on your loved one because they messed themselves?
If you can overcome the BM, body fluids and infectious diseases, nursing should probably be your first choice. It would also give you more opportunity to work in a cleaner environment someday. RT is not a strong profession. I asked the question here about how who does the ABGs at their hospital but unfortunately didn't get much response. We recently had a couple travel RTs who were trying to do the ABGs. RNs, Lab and Doctors only do ABGs in my part of the country. Nursing also does all the MDIs and nebulizers. RNs can also manage their own ventilators in some units. It is hard in some places for RNs to find a job especially if they don't have a BSN. It is even harder for RTs to find jobs due to cut backs where duplication of skills is unnecessary.

Okay, thank you for that. I am definitely in the process of reconsidering professions. I know I do want job security (as much as possible), and a good pay, not that it is guiding my choice, but plays a role. I am on my 6th year of being out of my science courses, and a lot of schools require under 7 years of taking your BIO courses, some say 5 years. This is why I am in a rush. But, I understand where what you say here. Maybe I should look into shadowing nurses and RTs for a bit and come back to applying next year. I also looked at dental hygiene lol. like I said, I'm everywhere in mind. Just need more exposure with these fields before applying to programs.

offlabel · Jan 3, 2016

Dealing with odors and body fluids is something you will have to master in any bedside health care profession. If you really think you can't, reconsider health care.
If you can overcome the BM, body fluids and infectious diseases, nursing should probably be your first choice. It would also give you more opportunity to work in a cleaner environment someday. RT is not a strong profession.

Master awful odors your first day! Become a mouth breather!

RRT's where I am are responsible for anything concerning ventilation and oxygenation including abg sampling, endotracheal intubation, art line placement, ventilator management, nebulized medications, ventilator administered agents, i.e. nitric oxide.... etc. And cleaning poop is not in their job descriptions. I jealously think it's a great gig.

ambobam · Jan 3, 2016

The medical field is obviously not for you

Ryan Walker · Jan 3, 2016

The medical field is obviously not for you

Do you think because of the cleaning aspect?

vanilla bean · Jan 3, 2016

If the problem truly is the *smell* and not the actual act of cleaning, then you will want to reconsider both options. As a former RT, I used to joke that my job duties were "from the waist up," meaning no poop cleaning duties, but in reality, I was regularly exposed to poop even if I was not the one responsible for the actual clean-up of said poop.

In my RT duties I routinely assisted in the repositioning and holding patients during bathing/cleaning - if they were intubated, my primary concern was to stabilize their airway, but I was there to assist in the process none-the-less. Patients that code and in emergency situations often have a bowel movement that must be dealt with once the life-threatening problems have been addressed. Having a BM can be a physically taxing event for some medically fragile patients and you may be required to provide care *during* the process. I have stood at a bedside commode on more than one occasion assessing my patients for their respiratory distress, treating, and assisting them to transfer back to bed. Even if not involved in the process of cleaning, patients under your care and requiring your attention are going to poop (they may even have a roommate that is having a BM or being cleaned while you are in the room working with your patient). Bottom line: poop.

There are plenty of poop-free jobs in both professions, but many of those jobs require several years of experience before you are eligible. And while a student of either profession, you will have to deal with it. In fact, my very first "code" as a RT student was a "code brown" in which the patient had a vagal response while on the toilet, fell off, and had to be treated, stabilized, transferred back to bed and cleaned. The bathroom floor and the patient? Yep, you guessed it, lots of poop on both.