Respiratory Therapist VS Nursing

macizu, BSN, RN · Nov 20, 2008

Hello all, I'm also currently in the process of finishing my pre-reqs for nursing school but have always been interested in respiratory therapy. Now the money is really not an issue for me at all but I would really like to know as of today what the starting salaries are looking like for new graduates for respiratory therapists. I know what salary.com has as the "average" but I would like to know what new grads are really being offered.

Also in larger hospitals, is it hard to get overtime as a respiratory therapist? How much overtime can one work as a respiratory therapist, or is it really limited?

Do respiratory therapists also get shift, nights, and weekend differentials? I'm guessing they do.

I live in Houston, TX so anyone with info on this side of the country is especially appreciated. I welcome info on any part of the country as well.

As always any answer to my questions is greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

Home Health Columnist / Guide · Nov 20, 2008

the respiratroy therapists i've worked with over the years taught me a great deal and helped develop my interest in repiratory nursing. worked 10 yrs on telemetry resp care unit and specialized in care vent dependent patients in homecare---info that's helped me 25 yrs later as central intake manager responsible for setting up home care services.

from dept of labor:

respiratory therapists

Quote
median annual earnings of wage-and-salary respiratory therapists were $47,420 in may 2006. the middle 50 percent earned between $40,840 and $56,160. the lowest 10 percent earned less than $35,200, and the highest 10 percent earned more than $64,190

registered nurses

Quote
median annual earnings of registered nurses were $57,280 in may 2006. the middle 50 percent earned between $47,710 and $69,850. the lowest 10 percent earned less than $40,250, and the highest 10 percent earned more than $83,440.

RTreformed · Dec 3, 2008

So, I'll keep it as short as I can, I mean, its simply my opinion... You are comparing apples and oranges, and will never get a honest answer, as each side will claim superiority...

Rt for 8 years, majority critical care and trauma at large facilities, and I know, without a doubt, there is no rn who can begin to manage a ventilator, understand settings and make appropriate changes as well as I can, period. Regular vent, hfov, jet vent, no, critical care rn's have a basic grasp, but thats it... In the same breath, I couldnt run an iv pump and calcuate drug dosages to save my life... I knew how once, but never used it, now its gone...

Now, could an rn learn to be competent at ventilator management, absolutely... Could I learn drug dosages and calculations and run pumps.. With out question... Its really not a matter of who is better, simply different educations... Rt's spend years studying what nursing may cover in a few weeks, whereas nursing may spend a whole semester on a subject that I was taught for a single class day because it wasnt relevant to what I do...

Daily rt activity varies wildly depending on the type of facility you work at... Go to a small, band aid station hospital, and you will hump nebs all day, every day, and probably be less respected for all your hard work and running around... Work in large, teaching facilities, and become very experienced, and it is completely different... I typically have a unit with 10-12 icu beds, and thats all my assignment consists off... If there arent many vented patients, sure, im slow... But I help out other areas... Just as if the nurses have stable patients, they are slow as well... And out of respect, if they ask me to help roll/turn a patient, im game, im not too big for it... I simply dont wipe butt because poop-vomit-urine are the reasons I didnt go to rn school... Doesnt make me want to vomit, just not something I care to deal with, and wont...

So much for keeping it short...

PageRespiratory! · Dec 4, 2008

delete post, chart graphics won't post

jstbreathe · Dec 6, 2008

JPRAKES....You Rock!

RRTCanada · Mar 26, 2009

i'm not sure how different the role is in the us, but in canada the sky's the limit for rrts. like nurses there are multiple options away from the bedside including research, sales, education, pharmaceutical, etc. salaries here are higher for starting rts than they are for starting nurses, with the ceiling being the same for bedside. starting for an rt in toronto is $31/hr (rn around $24/hr) with top for bedside rn and rt just below $40/hr at 6 years. it can go higher for both in management positions...there are rrts who are mangers, leaders, educators and even ceos. with overtime and other opportunities many rts make >$100k/year. my track was 3 years bedside, 2.5 years in clinical research and now i'm an educator in the hospital and at a school...6 years and have salary of $80k, mon-fri and love the work. it's busy, but not exhausting.

as for the rt job, like nursing the role depends where you work. if you work in rehab or a clinic your role will be different than that of an rt working in a busy icu. we do all the usual stuff, assessments, inhalations, spirometry, bloodwork, chest physio, suctioning, etc. we also intubate, put in art lines, and some put in chest tubes with extra training. here our rts manage extremely complicated cardiac defects in terms of invasive and non-invasive ventilation, oscillation, jet-ventilation, nitric oxide, etc, and some have completed additional training to run ecmo (think bedside heart-lung bypass). in canada we have rts that complete additional training in anaesthesia to manage non-complex surgical cases (eye, hands, etc). the group works autonomously under the supervision of an anaesthetist. i have travelled extensively for work (mexico, all over the us), presented at conferences and the like. this is not atypical for motivated rts who get involved. basically, your career path depends on where you work and how you get involved. if you want career progression, look for a large centre with good resources.

like nurses, rt workload depends on the patient population. some are more demanding than others. working nights adds another layer of challenge to both, but there are day jobs out there. i chose rt over rn because i liked being able to move around and not be tied to a single patient for most of my shift. i like the opportunity to help stabilize a trauma patient in er, then head upstairs to teach a family about home ventilation, then admit a patient in the icu, run to code blue to do compressions and intubate, and on an on. it's not like that day in day out, but overall there is alot of variety. like others had mentioned, i'd rather deal with respiratory secretions than poop, blood or vomit on a regular basis (i had jobs doing enemas and manual disimpaction). either way, if you don't like poop or secretions there are positions for rn and rt that get you away.

it is a challenging job that requires people skills and intelligence. although we are smaller in number, this fact with the aging population only increases our opportunities for the future. the interprofessional collaborative push currently sweeping healthcare is also opening many doors. managers are looking outside the realm of nursing for a different perspective. like other professions, grad school is your best bet to move up. if bedside is where you'd like to stay, nursing and rt are basically the same...just a different set of variables and equipment that you're dealing with. although a lot of nurses think we only know about the lungs, there's way more to rt than that. everything in the body is connected, so we deal with any pathophysiology that leads to cardiorespiratory compromise, be it hepatic, renal, cardiac, neural, etc. we need to know about all of it to do our job effectively.

in the end, workload depends where you are but appear to be basically the same. responsibilites are the same...you both perform cpr when needed and a responsibility doesn't get any higher than that. we both have the same goals...patient improvement and we must work together closely to ensure this goal is achieved.

nclady31 · Jul 13, 2009

This is so helpful. I am currently taking pre-reqs for ADN but I am finding myself strongly leaning to the RT program. I wish there was a site as great as this one for RT's. Also, in my barbaric research of RT, I am finding more variety in this field that what alot of people are saying. Such as NPS, C-AE, PFT, as well as a few job postings on my local hospital site for jobs such as cardiology specialist where the qualifications are either RN or RRT with several years experience in your field in an intensive care unit. The more I am finding diversity in this field, the more excited I am about RT vs RN. I hope to be able to shadow a couple of RTs in the next few weeks. Hopefully, after that, I will be able to make up my mind for sure. Thank you guys for all your info!!

mrs_brightside · Sep 18, 2009

I am a Respiratory Therapy student in my second semester. We are already going to clinicals, and there are certain areas that I enjoy more than others. I enjoy the CICU over the ICU, but one thing I would like to bring to light, obviously, is the nursing-rt "conflict." There are so many people who slam nurses for the way they treat RTs, and I have not experienced a bad nurse yet. I am sure the time will come, though, but we should understand that all jobs in a hospital or clinic are important. From the hospital management to the people who clean the rooms. We all need each other, and we should all help one another. The primary goal is to treat and help the patient - and anyone going into a health field thinking he/she is going to do that on their own should get out immediately. It's a team effort. There should not be some big debate over which is better, both RTs and nurses are important in the health care field. I went into this thinking I was going to see a bunch of RNs being rude and snotty, but the truth is that I have a great deal of respect for them and what they do after going to clinicals. Not all nurses are bad and you can't label them as such over one bad experience. I am enjoying RT classes right now, and I hope that I can make it... it seems very hard, it's just a lot of information to take in. I hope to one day to specialize in the Neonatal/Pediatric branch of RT. Also, the pay is excellent in almost any health care field, but if that is your only concern, you should also leave. I think that's the problem with a lot of our health care today: too many smart people going into health care who care more for money than for the well-being of another person.

JENHEY · Feb 7, 2010

Hello

I need to decide on going for a Respiratory Therapist Associates degree or a Sleep Technician's Certificate. From reading the posts, it seems that the

Respiratory Therapist degree might be a better option with more choices.

Any Advice ? I have two Associate's degrees now. One in Human services and the other as a Medical Assistant.

Thanks

JEN

RRT2RN2CRNA · Mar 17, 2010

@JENHEY-

If you need to start making money that's above min wage, then go for sleep cert first, because it's a short course and you can work in that while you're in school for respiratory or nursing. However, sleep is very specialized and unless you work in a large metro area, the job opportunities are limited. Sleep labs are usually 4-8 beds and each tech takes 2-3 patients so you only have 2-3 techs working per night. And it's somewhat of a dead end as far as earnings for a routine sleep tech job.

If you can afford to just go straight into an associate's or BS program, I highly recommend Respiratory Therapy to anyone who's looking to get into health care. It's particularly great if not you're quite sold on nursing (at least right away) or don't want to deal with fussy RN program admissions wait lists and all that. It's a great field to work in to get a look at what goes on in all the different units. You will be much more prepared than someone who has never worked in a hospital if you decide to go for nursing school later on. And you can have an idea of what kind of unit you will want to work in. And it can be really fun. On an average day I run between the ER, a few ICUs and the floors. I see every kind of patient. I do boring busy work like nebs, and then I'll go do something more demanding like put an arterial line in or fix an oscillator. I run a lot of crazy machines and it teaches you to be able to logically troubleshoot a situation under pressure. It can be really great *depending on the hospital you choose* (very impt)

And who knows? You might like it and not do anything else after. And that's perfectly fine too.

P.S. Don't get the wrong impression from these territorial ninnies fighting up top. I work in an academic trauma center in ICU where our nurses love us. And it's mutual. We have different roles that are complimentary. End of story. Anybody blowing it up into some sort of feud for the ages is lacking in either self-esteem or mental faculties.

Plus we have a common enemy.... the residents!

Let me know if you have more questions-

A

JENHEY · Mar 17, 2010

Hey

Thanks for replying to my post and the advice! I think it is a good idea to start with the sleep tech program and then move on to the respiratory degree.. There is a two year wait list for RN programs here in NH and no guarantee to get into the LPN programs either.. I don't want to waste my time waiting to get into a program when I could be furthering my education. One concern I have about being a Respiratory Therapist is handling someone not breathing. Their life is in your hands...I would think that my skills and confidence would build from my education and experience... I would then know what to do when that situation happens..

Jen

rtme · Apr 12, 2010

To begin, all health care workers, even those that don't deal directly with patient care, have chosen to make it their life's work to help and serve others. Thats a big commitment. We work long days, nights and holidays. We are expected to show up in bad weather. We deal with patients and their families who are kind, indifferent, non-compliant and combative. Health care workers see things in hospitals that the lay person may never see. We experience extreme joy's and sorrows. These are all things to consider when you are deciding upon entering the health care field. If you are considering such a step because it seems like good money, then your entering for the wrong reasons and may find that you are miserable down the road.

In reference to the RT's vs. Nursing:

Not all RT's and nurses have animosity toward each other. The simple fact is that our jobs have differing set's of responsibilities. Really, no one job is " better" than another. Successful patient care depends on each member of the health care staff working in cooperation with each other.

Of coorifice there are fleeting moments when our assessment/care/treatment/ opinion of pt. care may differ. But that is not strictly between RT's and nurses. I have heard CNA's complain about nurses, nurses complain about doctors, residents complain about the attending , Pulmonologists complain about cardiologists...the list goes on and on...and of coorifice, we all complain about our co workers within our own department. There will ALWAYS be something/ someone to complain about or look down upon. Unfortunately, its a part of human nature.

As for me, I am an RT, but I was also a CNA for 10 years in nursing homes. Being a CNA was a great introduction to the health care field. I would highly recommend it as a first step to be sure this is what you want to do. Anyway, as a CNA in a nursing home (the ones I have worked at) we did EVERYTHING except wound care and pass meds. We dressed, bathed, fed, transported, ambulated, etc. (this however does not apply to all nursing homes, only the ones I have worked for.) At the time, I knew I wanted to take that next step up the career ladder, but...I knew that I didn't want to be a nurse. I wanted a completely different set of responsibilities.

Mind you, Hospitals and nursing homes are two different types of health care settings. Obviously, hospitals have much more going on than a rest home for the elderly. As such, the responsibilities/scope of practice for nurses will differ.

The amount of respect you receive seems dependent upon two things:

1. It seems correlated to the responsibilities/ tasks you perform at your institution . As well as how competent you are at performing these tasks, how well you relate to your coworkers/ patients, etc. This goes for everyone, not just RT's.

2. If you are good at what you do, you enjoy what you do, you work well with others and you treat your co-workers with equal respect, no matter where you go, YOU as a PROFESSIONAL will be respected.

That being said:

In hospitals that dont have established respiratory driven protocols, RT's may be considered little more than treatment jockey's, knob turners and equipment techs. Simply put, if your not allowed to do much, then you cant expect much in return. HOWEVER, keep in mind stipulation # 2.

In hospitals where they DO have these protocols, RT's may be expected to intubate/ extubate , enter orders, modify orders, d/c orders, start A-lines, etc. The wider your scope of practice, the more indispensable you become. There are institutions like this and I work at one of them. The nurses there see me as an equal member of the team. I am expected to do things (like intubate during code situations) that they would not want to do. Those exact words I have been told time and again from my fellow nurses. Just like they do things that I do not want to do, like clean and pack a wound. Some nurses don't like to deal with airway secretions, I don't like to deal with poo anymore. Still, if I have time, I will help my fellow nurses change/bath a patient. Likewise, if they have time, they may do some naso-tracheal suctioning on a patient of mine.

It is up to you what type of an institution you decide to work at. Make sure you talk to the department heads about what your job requirements are. There are ups and downs to everything. Its ultimately your decision. If you later complain about what your expected to do (whether it be too much or too little), than look no further than yourself for blame because you chose to work there. You can always look elsewhere when your ready to try something different. This goes for everyone.

Opportunities:

Nursing does tend to have more opportunities. You have the option of working in a hospital, doctors office, school, nursing home and home health. RT opportunities vary from hospitals, few long term care institutions (that take on vent patients), home health, traveling therapist....and i think that about covers it. You may also get into the pharmaceutical sales rep. role.

Good luck to all those stuck in indecision!