To be an RN or RT..Help!

[deebee12]

Hello All,

I am new to this forum. I am a pre nursing student and is in the waiting list for the RN program for the past 2 years.. However, there is a Respiratory Therapy program in my college and they have open availability for getting in the program, which I am eligible to proceed in the RT program this Spring 08 semester. Do you think i should go through with it? i wanted to be an RN so bad but its just so competitive to get in since all the school are impacted with the RN program. If i do attend the A.S. Resp Therapy prgram, I will be graduating June 09..since i am doing the fast tract program.

Scary part is i will be taking abt 19 units per semester to finish the RT program in 1 year.. is taking the fast tract a good idea?

help...

thankxx =)

- dee-

[panamabrt]

Sasha1224 has witnessed a lazy therapist. A good therapist takes time to know the whole patient picture and not limit themselves to just respiratory. The fact is, respiratory is a difficult field and requires alot of knowledge. I am an RRT and an RN...I went back to get my RN to increase my knowledge base...so so much to learn:)

Get into respiratory, then go back and get your nursing...nursing was competative for my area also but after RRT school, I was accepted to the BSN program...

Good luck!

[sasha1224]

Panamabrt-you are right! He is a pretty lazy therapist! There are others I work with who are much more conscientious and involved in care of the patient. He was just an (extreme) example. With him, I was pointing out that with the same level of education, he was able to have some very different opportunities than a equivilently educated RN. (At least in my area). And if finances are a factor in job choice, the route of resp therapy is comparable(or in his case better). But as some have pointed out, the resp tx program can be limiting. As a nurse, one can obtain a doctorate and potentially make great contributions to the field. for RTs, it currently seems education is limited to the bachelor level.

[whipping girl in 07, RN]

I'm friends with a lot of RTs...they can't understand how I can be a nurse, I don't get how they can do respiratory. We laugh about which is worse, lung butter or poop/vomit...I personally can't handle sputum, if a patient coughs something up and tries to show it to me I about puke on them. However, poop/vomit/pee/blood don't bother me much at all. I hate to NP suction and I really hate trying to teach some old geezer how to use a SMI...

I have a friend who was an RN who went back to school to be an RT, I have another friend who is an RT who's doing RN/BSN fast track and then applying to anesthesia school. If it's your way into the health care field, I say go for it...

I work at two hospitals and the autonomy RTs have at each facility are polar opposites and at the one where they can't do much by protocol, I have a feeling I would get bored, so be cognizant of that when you start looking for a job. And I know I'd be all over critical care and vent management and I'd get bored doing O2 checks and treatments if I was an RT...just like I didn't like floor nursing but loved critical care.

Good luck!:cheers: