We RTs love when we are respected

"You don't have to hunt me down every time you do an EKG," she said. "I am totally confident in your skills."

"Thank you," I said, "I always appreciate when I'm respected. You see we have other doctors who want me to hunt them down every time I do an EKG, so I just got into the habit of it. "

"I think you know what a bad EKG looks like, and you can just give me the EKG when you think there's something I need to see right away."

My heart. Oh, my heart is going to burst. Did she just say what I thought she said? Does she really have respect for me, a lowly RT? Look at her; she's looking at me, not at the nurse standing next to me. She has respect for me. My heart; oh, can my heart handle this? Gather yourself Rick. You need to say something. You need to thank her for respecting the fact that you have an education and several years of experience.

"Thanks. I really appreciate this."

Wow! And you said something half way intelligent. Usually you say something stupid, or you are tongue tied when a doctor compliments you like this. And usually those compliments are so far and few between than when they happen, you worry about your heart. Will you ever stop fluttering? Will my ego jump up a notch? Will I actually develop an ego.

I turned around and there was my student. You heart that compliment, didn't you? "Come on, Alice, now that we have all these EKGs done lets go finish our work upstairs."

Wow. Not only did this doctor give me her confidence, she did so in front of a person, and with other people around.

This is a relatively new doctor here at Shoreline, and I think her and I are going to get along real well. See, my fellow readers, this is all I ask for as an RT: Respect.