"What?" was my feeble response.
"Today is the 20th anniversary of your first day of work here," she said.
"Do I get a cake?" I ruefully said.
"No!" she said, laughing.
Before I had this job I never had a job longer than a year. So, it's a pretty good accomplishment to last this long.
What has changed?
When I started, there were senior RTs who always seemed to take the easy assignments. I was happy about that because I got to take exciting ER and critical care.
Whenever I had questions I'd tap in on their wisdom. When I wasn't confident, I'd have them shadow me. When I wasn't sure about myself, I'd ask them questions.
When they were thinking about retirement, I'd think, "How are we going to replace all that wisdom?
The answer: "You don't!"
"Who is going to fill your shoes?" I ruefully asked once.
"You!" One of them said.
"What? I don't know half of what you know."
"You are! You have no choice."
Gulp!
"Yeah!" she said. "That's, like, part of getting old."
What you do is you add your own wisdom. You have your own experiences. You have your own wisdom from these experiences. You have wisdom from what you have read. You have wisdom from what you have heard. You have wisdom from your conversations.
This wisdom is there even if you don't know it. And you will be asked to share it, whether you're ready to or not.
Fortunately for me, I have done lots of research for the RT cave. I have spent lots of time reading science journals for articles I've written. That helps. But it's not always needed. Some RTs don't read that much and they're equally brilliant.
So, now I'm the senior RT. That's what has changed. The seniors I tapped into are retired. Now I'm the senior RT. This is not a role you seek out. It sort of just happens.
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