Is it true respiratory therapists get no respect?

When I was in high school I really wanted to be an RT, but I was afraid to go that route because I failed chemistry in high school and thought for sure I'd fail it again in college.

So I decided I wanted to be a teacher instead. To make sure I was making the right choice, I asked one of my teachers. He said, "Oh, you don't want to be a teacher. The pay is pathetic."

My confidence was shot. Here I had decided teaching would be the perfect career for me and now this teacher I respected grumbled and griped about his job. So I set out to ask another teacher I respected. And, to my dismay, he said just about the same thing: "The pay isn't good. This isn't the best career choice. You get no respect!"

I was crushed. Not only could I not be an RT, I now couldn't be a teacher either. So, when it came time to circling a career when I was applying for college, I circled journalism. It was a spur of the moment decision, and my heart wasn't in it.

After I received an associate's degree in journalism I had to choose another career path, so I chose Advertising. Two years later I graduated and got a job as a writer for a small newspaper in Lake County, Michigan.

I hated it. I hated snooping on people. I hated newspaper politics. I hated talking on the phone. I was miserable, depressed and, because of this, my writing was awful.

After only three short months, I was fired. A good friend of mine offered me a job as an advertising salesperson, but I turned him down. My confidence was chopped and crushed. I had wasted four years of my life pursuing this career path for nothing (or so I thought at the time).

I pitied myself for a year, and partied as often as I could with my friends, slowly squandering the money I had saved. That is until one day I was lying on the floor writing in my journal, trying to decide what to do with my life, when a sheen of sunlight filled the room, and a warm breeze wafted through the open window causing goose flesh and a tingling sensation to rush up my spine.

In a sense, it was as though God had touched me and said, "Follow your heart son: become an RT." And so I did just that. And it was the best decision I ever made. Finally, when I was 27 (in 1997) I was hired as an RT

Ironically, as though fate had guided me on the path I chose, once I started up my RT Cave blog, and later my Asthma blog, I was utilizing the skills I learned in obtaining my previously unused Bachelor's degree.

On top of that, I get to teach on this job too. I teach every time I have a patient, every time I have a student follow me, and on a daily basis right here on this blog.

Thus, in a sense, fate guided me to where I am today. While I initially swayed from my hearts desire because of what some burned out idiots told me, I ended up right where my heart initially wanted me to be -- only it took me ten years instead of two.

So, that in mind, this is what I initially thought of when I received the following question via email earlier today:

Question: I am thinking about becoming a RT ad i was reading some blogs on the Internet (which weren't as good as yours). And a couple said that RTs get no respect. Is that true?

My humble answer: I think one of the best pieces of advice I can give you when trying to decide what career path to follow is simply this: follow your heart. If you want to become an RT, become an RT. Don't not choose this profession because some of the most heard voices are cynical.

Where I work the RTs are very well respected. We are a part of the patient care team, and we are among the first people called upon when a patient is having trouble breathing, or is otherwise not looking quite right. It's our skills that often greatly improves the health, and quite often saves the life, of patients. And our expertise and opinion are well taken by nurses and doctors in making appropriate decisions in caring for these patients.

Now I'm not going to say everything is perfect in this field. There are many procedures, for example, that are ordered for reasons I think are frivolous or ridiculous, and when we RTs try to get these procedures cancelled we are told no. Yet one must also consider the politics of the matter, as many insurance companies and Medicaid require these procedures to be completed in order to meet reimbursement criteria.

Still, you must consider that this profession is relatively new compared to nursing, and still growing. While nursing has been around since the Civil War, respiratory therapy only started with the Polio Epidemic in the 1950s. One of the neat things about being an RT today is we are part of the RT revolution. While RTs used to be hired off the street as on the job trainers, we now have to endure two years of respiratory therapy school, and by the time we earn our degrees and certificates we know as much about the heart and lungs as the doctors do.

Slowly but surely doctors and nurses are realizing how great an asset we RTs are to the institution, and as this happens we RTs are earning respect, and also earning more responsibility. In many larger hospitals protocols allow RTs to assess and treat patients without an order even being written. In fact, in many states RTs have gained the same respect as nursing by requiring RTs to be licensed.

Where I work we are a little behind some of these hospitals, but we are slowly catching up. In fact, my fellow co-workers and I only recently worked with doctors in creating new protocols that allow us to do things we never could do before. The reason doctors gave us RTs these protocols is because we earned their respect by educating ourselves, working hard, and impressing doctors and nurses with our wisdom.

So there are good things and bad things about this profession as there are with any other. And, no matter where you work there will be complainers. Yet, in the end, a career is what you make of it.

Personally, I love helping people catch their breath, and I love teaching them how they can improve their lives. I also love the challenge of making this a better profession that is more respected by doctors, and I think we are doing just that.

Bottom line, this is a good profession that pays the bills. If you like taking care of people, if you like a challenge, then this may be the right career for you.

Now, to be fair, I myself do criticize some of the things doctors have us RTs doing, but I try to do so in a fun and humorous way. Through my satire I like for doctors to see how goofy some of their doctor's orders are.

Yet, despite it all, I still love my job as an RT, and you might find you like this job too. However, whether you do or not is up to you. Because respect, my friend, is something that must be earned. You can earn it independently by working hard, and you can earn it by being part of a great team, like we have here at the RT Cave.

For the betterment of your wisdom, I have included with this post some links to humble (from the heart) posts I wrote about this profession. By reading them perhaps you will get a better feel of what being an RT is all about -- at least from my humble perspective.

First, there's this link: Be an RT!! (I didn't write this one)

The future of the RT profession is in our hands
Some things should not be the job of the RT
Contemplating large versus small hospital
Is the job of respiratory therapy a good career?
Is the job of respiratory therapy right for you?
Choosing a career: RN versus RT
A list of what I like about being an RT
RT bosses, admins think on different level as RTs
New Vent protocol bi product of teamwork
The greatest joy of being an RT

Here is how and why I work nights
New RT opportunities on the horizon?
The six different types of respiratory therapists
The reality of small town hospitals
Protocols
What you need to know about complainers inside the RT Cave