Respiratory Therapist VS Nursing

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Hello all. I would like to know if any of you knows who has more work load nurse or respiratory therapist. I am going to school for respiratory but at the same time I am thinking about going to nursing school. I know nursing has more options, its an expandable field and also the employment is greater than respiratory but that doesnt really matter to me. What matter to me is the work I do. I want to know the work load and if its more harder than nursing or more stressful.

Thank you all.

Specializes in Respiratory, ER, PFT and asthma.
Mommy Nurse2b said:
I am a nursing student and by no means an expert - but just one general observation. When I had hospital orientation there were 4 RT's starting and they ALL stated their plans were to become RN's...not sure why but I found that really interesting!

I find that nurses who were RTs first are better nurses. They definitely know breath sounds. A lot of nurses call for respiratory treatments for ANY adverse breath sounds. Respiratory treatments are primarily used to treat wheezing.

Money has something to do with it. I work with several RT who made the switch. Most go from CRT to RN. in other words from the lowest level RT to the highest level nurse. Here that is a $6.00 an hour pay increase.

As far as importance, at my facility, being an RT automatically makes us part of the code blue team. And yes RT intubate at my hospital. But because so many RTs show up to a code, and we are very comfortable in doing it, the "floor" nurses step aside and let the 2 or three RTs and the 2 ICU nurses run the code. The only thing we can't do is IV drugs. We do the CPR, EKG/ECG, intubate, and administer drugs down the ET tube. RTs are well respected at my medical center.

Regarding the 2 previous posts: How does experience as an RT make one a better nurse?

Specializes in Respiratory, ER, PFT and asthma.
br107 said:
Regarding the 2 previous posts: How does experience as an RT make one a better nurse?

RTs have advanced knowledge about the cardio-pulmonary system. Most RT schools require ACLS and PALS certification before graduation. Pharmacology is also a big part of the RT process. I work with several RN, RRTs who did RT first. It's not an accident they all work in advanced areas such as on the heart floor, ICU, Emergency dept. and so on.

You can also consider it a stepping stone as well. Knowing what they know, an RT in RN school can spend less time on cardio pulmonary and more time in other areas of nursing program.

The more places I work and the more people I meet, the more I realize how much I learned in the RT program.

Specializes in Geriatric, Rehab, and Pulmonary.
pricklypear said:
OMG. Whoever told you this has a somewhat lopsided view of the whole situation. It's not about who has how many or what kind of patients. Are you under the impression that RTs are the primary caregiver of the "sickest" patients? And nurses take care of the easy ones?

OK. I work in ICU. I may be assigned 2 patients. Both are critically ill, on vents (breathing machines). I assume FULL responsibility for ALL aspects of care for those patients. I am responsible for administering meds, treatments other than respiratory, labs, procedures, calling docs, titrating IV drugs, monitoring and treating changes, and recording the whole process.

Every couple of hours or so, someone from the RT department comes into my room, writes down some numbers from the vent, adds some medication to a nebulizer, and hooks it up the the pt. Then they leave. Sometimes they document the treatment in the chart. They might do this same thing for every patient in the ICU. Then they'll go upstairs and give treatments to the patients on the floors. Then they'll start the whole process over again.

During a code, the RT bags the patient (squeezes the breathing bag). Nursing does everything else. We get the patient hooked up to the vent, and the RT leaves. I take care of the rest.

So basically what I'm saying is that RT and nursing have totally different jobs and responsibilities. As a nurse, I am responsible for EVERYTHING that is going on with the patient. The RT manages the vent. That's pretty much it. Not that their job is not important, or critical to the welfare of the patient. An experienced and knowledgeable RT is an invaluable resource. They just have a totally different job, focused specifically on the respiratory system. Hosestly, if I had it to do over again, I'd be an RT. Maybe I'm just in a bad mood tonight.

I am a Respiratory therapist that has worked for over 16 years, just finished nursing school. Through the years nursing and respiratory therapy has disrespected each other. Both are equal in terms of education, i.e. AAS. A respiratory therapist should not be viewed as someone just writing down vent settings and squirting medication in a neb. Likewise nursing does more than start IVs and clean up messes a patient makes. I have AAS in RC and nursing, went into nursing to be a FNP but love nurse the same as RCPs. Be assured that one deserves just as much respect as the other. Running from floor to floor, the units and ER is not an easy task just as hanging blood, titrating Dopamine and giving chemo all at the same time is difficult. Please work together and respect one another.

I would have to add kudos to bassplayers post. I have worked as a traveler/agency nurse for 16 years and have been all over the country, once licensed in 26 separate states. In that capacity you have to hit the ground running and my area of expertise has always been ICU/ER so you can't have one thumb in your nose and be a lone wolf when somebody crashes. If it weren't for RT's my ass would have been in the fire more than once with nobody to pull it out had it not been for them. It is a major comfort to know that somebody with specific knowledge has your back and you are freed up to take care of other issues. Nurses do what nobody else can because they are licensed to do it. A therapist cannot hang vasoactive drips or give IV push paralytics or a thousand other things that nurses do. On the other hand, as a nurse I have given lots of nebs, drawn abg's (from a-lines and sticks), done cpt, retaped ett tubes, assisted more intubations than I can count, taken orders for vent changes. The RT in most places I have worked is obliged to give the nurse the responsibility to call gases to the doctor and take RT orders because they can't legally take telephone or verbal orders. Still, I would not place the nurse in the position of being above the RT, and a regular floor nurse is in a much different position than an ER nurse or an ICU nurse both in scope of practise and in experience and training. There is not an ICU in the land that would take a nurse that is not ACLS at least and the RT is not always available for every eventuality in the unit. If three patients are crashing in three different ICU departments at a large institution that only has a couple of RT's on staff at night then guess who has to pick up the slack. Yep, it's the nurse. So though I honor and respect RT's I know that ultimately the responsibility for the patient will fall on the nurse and so will the blame if things crap out. Regretably on those few occasions when praise is given for the well being of a patient the fair share of credit is not often given to the RT who has done so much.

Sorry guys. I'm a Respiratory Therapist so please don't be mad at me for posting on this. But I work in a large hospital and like the nurses at my facility we don't have time to just sit around. The ICU nurses have 2 patients and even our unit therapist still have floor work to go along with their unit work. The floor nurses have 5 patients (which is alot) but we usualy have 50+(per RT) and they aren't all on the same hall or floor at that plus their 5 or more ventilators running, plus any code that happens. I know that some hospitals the Rt's do about 10 treatments and then have alot of down time. But it isn't like that everywhere.

Hello! I was planning on entering the nurses program this fall, but have been thinking of changing to RT. I have no medical experience and was wondering who to contact to shadow both fields. Will the local hospitals allow someone to do this? Also, what is the demand for nuses vs. RT?

I went to respiratory school from 1986 to 1989 then nursing and graduated with a BSN. So I have an AD in respiratory and a BS in nursing.

I love both fields but my passion is respiratory. There is a demand for using both fields in some states/countries. Many therapists are going back to get their RN just to be versatile.

They are both hard fields...My suggestion would be to get a BS in either one but to get a degree from both....

Hope this helps!

Specializes in ICU. Med/Surg: Ortho, Neuro, & Cardiac.

^BUMP. It took a while to find this thread, and like the OP, I'm in the same situation. I've recently become fascinated by the idea of respiratory care but I've always been fascinated by nursing because my two aunts are a nurse, my mom is DON at an adolescent psych mental health facility, and my uncle is a CRNA. However, unlike the OP, my family tells me that any of the health careers can be promising and can all help me when I do become a nurse (and I will, even if I'm 50 years old) but I think I'm at an advantage because most people I spoke with about RT talk about burnout. Well I'm 19 and I can see myself doing resp therapy for 2-5 years no problem and then going to nursing school.

You all have some interesting concepts on the differences of RN's vs. RRT's.

How about a perspective towards education vs. clinical time?

I have been an RRT for 24 years and was one of the first to receive the NPS (Neonatal-Pediatric Specialist) designation also. I had 3 years of RT schooling, 1st year is normally general studies, biology, A&P,etc. 2nd year: Basic Respiratory A & P, Physics, Fluidics, Gas Laws and equipment operation with trouble shooting. 3rd year consists of clinicals normally three days a week and advanced respiratory classes twice a week. We are required to be competent with ABG's drawing and analysis with interpretation in all age groups. We must also be able to operate, trouble-shoot almost any piece of equipment we use. In addition, be able to identify different significant objects on X-rays, ie. ETT placement, pneumo's, blebs, foreign objects and be able to point this out to MD's and suggest possible resolution methods. In addition to critical care, some of us have branched off into pulmonary function laboratories, NICU-PICU, ER, helicopter/fixed wing transport and a few into MD's.

I would never say, and RN or RRT isn't important. I have helped RN's with IV insertions, moving patients, lifting, NG tubes, ECG's; If I have the extra time, I'll help anyone else that appears to need some help. We just need to remember, "Do the Right Thing."

Remember, that patient is someone's: Sister, Mom, Dad baby, etc.

As long as we can help each other as a team, we can help our patients through their tough times.

David, RRT-NPS

I wanted to reply to this because I agree with David. I hate the stupid flame wars and fights that people always get into. We are all part of a team.

Im a respiratory student and am currently doing one of my clinicals. In my opinion theres an equal workload between the two. At my hospital nurses are constrained to their specific floor and respiratory therapists are assigned to a few floors, all of which they scurry back and forth between all day. Yes, there usually is some time in between rounds that they are able to sit and chill, but to any one nurse, it probably seems like once the therapist is out of their site, they arent doing anything valuable anymore. Nurses have to deal with all their patients needs while a respiratory therapist may do a lot less with any one pateint , they are also assigned to a lot more patients than a typical nurse. I'm really am enjoying my time clinical time and feel as though it gives me some freedom to spend time on different floors and different areas of the hospital where I can learn new things.

Excellent thread. I sure have learned a lot reading this.

I was wondering of you could tell me..Are RT's at risk for a lot of diseases? What kind of diseases? What are "inhaled diesases?

Sirena922 said:
I too was thinking of switching from Nursing to RT, but I surely cant make my mind up. Money wise I'd like nursing, but it seems to me that there are just to many obstacles to get into nursing programs, thats my only dilimia. Then having to take all these test to get into the program. It makes me lean more towards the RT program.

I am currently working on my pre-req's to nursing school (ASN) and am ALSO looking into the RT program for the same reasons. Both RN and RT careers interest me, and both have advantaged and disadvantages; like others said, it really depends on the type of person you are and the healthcare role you desire.

One reason I sometimes lean more heavily on RT is because, as most of us know, nursing schools applications are VERY competitive. At my school we have about 400 applicants for about 80 positions annually....even with immaculate grades, i am nervous about being accepted. The RT program is not competitive at all; anyone with the grades and pre-requisites is accepted.

To the OP, good luck with your decision; the previous advice about doing a job-shadow of each profession is sound.

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