The truth about freedom of speech

I have noticed that most blogs come and go like a fleck of dust in the fleeting wind.  I would like to hope the reason these bloggers quit writing was because they got bored, as opposed to being force by their RT bosses.  I would like to hope it was not because they were confused about the freedom of speech, and were thus forced to close up shop.

I think that too many people in this nation are confused about the freedom of speech, that you can say anything you want anytime about anyone and anything without being held accountable.  That is a myth worth dispelling.

This confusion can sometimes get people into trouble. Quite often even lawyers and legislators misunderstand and misrepresent the law, to the detriment of the people. It can get a journalist into trouble if he mouths off about how much he hates his job.  It can get a blogger into trouble if he trashes his employer, something all of us would like to do from time to time.  Surely we might do so in private, but in the public arena?  Yikes!  If we do that then we are asking for trouble.

"But," some of you might be saying, "What about the freedom of speech?  Doesn't that protect my right to say what I want when I want?"

My answer: "Nope!"

Okay, so allow me to explain.

Most people don't realize this but the 1st Amendment protection of freedom of speech is a superfluous law. This is because the Declaration of Independence protects our natural rights, and then it states as examples the right to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness.  While Jefferson only listed a few natural rights (probably to prevent his hand from becoming sore), he simply "assumed" fellow Americans would know the remainder (you can see them all listed here).

Most Americans at that time probably did know all the natural rights of men, as the idea that natural rights came from God was a common theme during the Age of Enlightenment.  Natural rights were thus referred to as inalienable rights, or those which cannot be taken away except by the government.  In other words, we are born with natural rights, and only the government can take them away.  Such an idea challenged the divine right of kings, whereby our rights came down from government, or that the government gives us our rights.

The Constitution in and of itself also protects our natural rights, so already two times they are protected.  The U.S. Constitution is the only such document in the history of the world that tells the government what it cannot do, as opposed to telling it what it can.  So Congress shall make no law, cannot make any law, that would take away any of our natural rights, including the right to free speech.

But, thankfully the founding fathers wanted to make sure this wasn't misunderstood, and therefore, once again, for the third time, they protected the right to free speech.  This time it was in the form of the first ten amendments, or the Bill of Rights.  In these they list what they thought were the most essential natural rights, the ones Jefferson assumed we would know, and among these included, in the 1st amendment, the right to free speech.  They thought it was so important they listed it #1.

This turned out to be yet another genius idea of the founding fathers, as for just a fleeting moment, they though, what if there comes a time when the people don't learn about natural rights.  We better, for the sake of argument, list these just to be on the safe side while we are all in agreement here.

There is another thing that's confusing about the 1st amendment, and that is that it protects all speech.  That is not true in the slightest.  The idea behind the 1st amendment was that in England, and for most of history, people weren't allowed to criticize government officials.  If you spoke ill of the king, for example you risked imprisonment and even death.

The founding fathers wanted to protect Americans who did not agree with the government, and wanted to assure that they were allowed, as their natural right suggested, to criticize that of which they don't agree.  So they protected the natural right to speech.

This amendment, however, stops at protecting your right to criticize your government.  It does not protect your right to, say, criticize your boss or your place of employment.  For example, I can say here that I don't like Obama's healthcare plan, and I can go on typing away here as though I never said it.  Obama cannot have me punished for speaking my mind.  I can say I hate Rick Schneider as the Governor of Michigan, and he can't have me hung at the stakes.  I'm not saying either of those is true, I'm just trying to make a point here.

On the other hand, I cannot say I hate my boss and I wish she were never hired.  I cannot say that my place of employment has a bunch of dunderheads running it, and they all stink.  My place of employment stinks.  I hate it.  I cannot say to the public, "Go to Shoreline medical at your own risk."

Surely you have a right to say such things, but if my bosses find out I'm saying such filth about Shoreline Medical, this can hurt the image, and can hurt the profits of where I work. They can, if they so choose, punish me and even fire me for what I said. Obviously they can't hang me, but they can rid me of my employment.

Another thing most people do not know is your place of employment does not have to have a reason to fire you. They can simply say, "You're fired!"  So for this reason, your humble RT has to be careful what he says here on this blog.  In this way, sometimes he has to be creative in how he says what he says.  Sometimes, he simply has to bit his cheek and not publish something, or write it another way that's not so offensive.

The neat thing is, though, that there's a way to get around speaking the truth without crossing the line of inappropriateness.  The way to do this is to speak in generalizations.  The way to do this is to show absurdity by being absurd, like I do by my list of 'olins.

So, yes, you can be fired for speaking the truth.  What you can't be is hung for speaking the truth about your government.  You can say things like, "Bush is a Nazi!", or, "Obama is the antiChrist!"  I agree with neither of these, I'm merely making a point.

So Uncle Sam cannot put his hand over your mouth to hush you, but your boss can.  So if you so choose to decide to create a blog, and I so hope you do, be careful how you say what you want to say.

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How to become a timeless blog

I have found in my three years in the blogosphere that some blogs are timeless. By timeless I mean that the material is extremely relevent to RT Cave readers and will not be removed from my link list no matter what.

Thousands of people start new blogs every day, yet only a small handful will continue to update their blog on a regular basis. I find that it would be poor of me to recommend a blog that has not been updated in over a year.

I say that with exception. For instance, say the blog I'm referring you to is one started by a patient who had cystic fibrosis, and he wrote daily about the struggles of living with this disease. Then he got so sick he couldn't write anymore. This blog, even while stagnant, is still relevent to many of my readers, and therefore will not be removed from my link list.

If you are an RT Student and you write about the trials and trivializations of making it through RT School, and most of your posts are very educational in one way or another, then your blog will be labeled as timeless even after you graduate and stop updating your blog.

However, I find that most RTs and RT students who start a blog do not write relevent material, and therefore when they cease to be updated will be terminated from my list.

For example, RT 101 has been slow to update his blog.  Yet he has outlined his experiences during his tenure as an RT with explicit style, and he paints a great picture of his take on the profession of RT. I will not remove his blog from my list no matter how stagnant it becomes. I know he's burned out and thinking about moving into another profession.

So if you want your RT blog to become timeless like RT 101, you'll have to write very relevent material. You can paint a picture of the profession or your unique experience, or you can provide relevent learning material you've obtained from your teacher. Or you can be creative in some other way.

I find that some chronic lungers start blogs and keep them up only while they are having trouble, and then stop. Yet most tend to start a blog and keep it up. I think this is because they have to live with this disease and it effects their lives.

I don't want to read a boring diary, yet a journal is great. A diary chronicles everything you did during the day: I did this, I did that, I went there. A journal is a place you write what you did, and you add your opinion to it. You add spice in a journal. You can learn from a journal. You can't learn from a diary.

Write about what happens to you and then explain why it happened, and you can become timeless.

How to become timeless:

• Educate
• Tell YOUR story in an interesting way
• Be unique
• Write well
• Update with regularity
• Be honest

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RT Cave #7 on list of top RT Twitter users

I received an email today informing me of this list that shows the top 8 RT bloggers who also use Twitter.

I think it's neat that I even made this list considering I do this as a hobby to entertain myself and have no alterior motives. I also think it's neat that I am the only blogger on this list not affiliated with a major RT magazine.

This I think is significant, because I'm the only blogger who does not get paid for his efforts, and does not have the backing of anyone else.

I now have 138 followers of my twitter account, and all of those folks (you perhaps) found me, I did not do any recruiting. I guess this means I'm doing something right. It's a neat little nitch I've found.

It's also neat because I pretty much use Twitter as a means to save my favoirite posts I would like to reference in later posts I plan to write. Yet readers -- like you -- have found the articles I put on Twitter useful. So I guess in this way we use Twitter to help each other out.

It's been really busy lately at my work, and I also have an 8 month old who is crawling all over the place, and a two year old who likes to sit on my 8 month old, and I also have a 12 year old who loves to play catch, and a 7 year old demanding attention. So you can see time to sit here at this computer is limited. It's simply a hobby. I do it for fun.

And any success I have here, however minimal, is through hard work and passion on my part. Yet more important, it's because of you.

On a side note, my blog has also hit the 500,000 page click mark. While this is small considering some bloggers get this in a day, it's significant to me considering I'm just a solo RT having a little fun.

Again, I owe all my thanks to you guys.

Thanks.

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Are bloggers considered journalists

Yes I was a journalist in the past, but not a very good one. The reason I bring this up is if for some reason I wrote "as a journalist" something on the RT Cave that the courts thought was wrongful, or if they believed I might have more information on my computer, Federal law makes it legal for the courts to confiscate my computer without a warrant.

So recently a reporter published articles on his own personal blog about a future iphone he purchased for $5,000 from some random person he met in a bar. If you want to know the details of this case you can click here and read the New York Time's Post.

Of course it was a prototype iphone, and not only was it not supposed to be sold, it was not supposed to be reported on. So, the question of the day brought up by the defenders of the blogger are, "Are bloggers journalists?"

The "blogger" was suspected of committing a felony. Sure, that sounds like a noble charge, yet do the courts have a right to take his computer without the proper warrants it would take to seize property of other Americans suspected of crimes.

I just thought this was interesting because many of us are bloggers, and we are just in this for fun, and to share our thoughts and expertise with an audience. We don't consider this to be a defensible hobby.

Looking for up to date lung blogs

Hey folks!

Once again this year I plan on updating my links page for the New Year. This tends to be one of my more popular pages as many people yearn for the wisdom of people with similar interests as them.

I will update the following links:

• Respiratory Therapy blogs
• EMT blogs
• Doctor blogs
• Nurse blogs
• Asthma blogs
• Chronic Lunger Blogs (COPD, CF, etc)
• Lung Wisdom Blogs and Websites
• Etc.

I think it's important to keep these links updated because people want to read only sites that are updated on a regular basis. So the only qualification for placement on my link list is the following:

1. Updated or recent post within the past 3 months
2. A valid reason why no recent postings

Obviously the classic blogs will make the list. Some of you guys I've gotten to know quite well in the 3 plus years I've been doing this. Yet there are some bloggers who start a blog, write for a while, and are never heard from again. These are the ones I will be deleting from my list.

There are also many great blogs out there that I would love to include on my list that I am unfamiliar with. If you write a lung blog or read a blog you feel my readers would be interested in, feel free to email me and I will include it.

If you have a lung blog that's already on my list and you haven't written a post in a while, there's no better time than the present to start clicking on the keyboard.

If you have a valid reason for not updating, that's great, just put a note on your blog or send me an email. I don't want to give up on any blogger because I know I have blogs out there I haven't updated in a while and for good reasons (like this one).

So I'm fair.

Lets see. How about if I make the deadline January 1, 2011 at midnight.

However, anytime during the year you want to include your name on my list just let me know. Yet due to family matters and work I can't guarantee when I'll have to make updates during the year.

Perhaps in the future we can make a contest or something.

Here is the present blog list. I've already had some inactive bloggers inform me they are now active, so this will all be included in my knew links.

Thanks. Rick.

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Blog problems? the solution is always "simple"

Blog problems? The solution is always simple -- or so they say. It's not simple, though, until you figure out what the problem is. Then you hit yourself alongside the head and say, "duh!"

If you viewed my blog yesterday, my right sidebar was sitting below my posts. It was an irritating problem that vexed me for nearly 24 hours. Then, as what usually happens, the solution is something simple. Yep -- simple -- that's what "they" said in every blogger help blog I read about "the disappearing sidebar."

I was about ready to pull my hair out. My wife was getting irritated by me for my obstinate desire to fix the problem. "You need to get off that computer and spend some time with your family," she kept wailing at me. "And stop dinking with your html. You keep getting your blog just the way you want it, and then you play around."

And I agreed with her. But I was unable to pull myself from the problem. And no matter what I did I couldn't get it to work. Hell, I even changed templates -- twice, and the problem didn't go away. Even with a new Minima template, no tabs, no third column, that right hand sidebar was sitting down below where I didn't' want it. I could have screamed. Maybe I did scream at one point. When you work nights and you are chronically deprived of sleep, irritation sometimes seems one missing sidebar away.

About a week ago I had a similar problem. While my blog was functioning fine, and my html template was visible, my "page elements" page was gone. No matter what I did I couldn't get it to come back. Then, by some miracle by my guardian angel perhaps, I decided on a whim to delete something I put into my template the day before, and wham! The problem was resolved. Now, with my right sidebar missing, I was hoping for a similar "guardian angel" moment. But it wasn't happening -- until just now.

I woke due to allergies. I decided I had better sit on the couch sniffling and sneezing and blowing until the antihistamine kicked in. Then I noticed my wife never shut the computer off when she went to bed. It was calling me: "Rick, come to me! Rick!" You know the feeling. That Internet was-a-calling. So I clicked the mouse. The computer woke. It said hi! Well, not really.

So I clicked on my blog hoping the problem would be gone. It wasn't. I changed templates on a whim. The dog gone right sidebar was still hanging below the posts. Knowing this wouldn't solve my problem, I googled "Why is my sidebar missing?" for the 200th time, and I came across this post.

It turns out, the problem was as "they" say "simple to solve." I don't know why it didn't click earlier. I had added an element to the bottom of my post that was too wide. I deleted it a moment ago, and the right sidebar came back. Turns out the "element" I deleted somehow made the post too wide. I never had that problem before. I'll never have it again. And, I suppose, neither will you since your reading this post.

It's interesting -- isn't it? -- how blog problems seem so vexing to solve until you find the solution. Then you realize that all the help blogs you read that said "the solution is simple" or "I hit myself in the head and said "duh!" when I figured out what the problem was were right -- the solution was simple

Well, now that this problem is resolved, I'm going back to bed. I have to work tonight and I need my beauty sleep.

The 100,000 click milestone has been reached

Well, ladies and gentlemen, the RT cave has met yet another milestone. It took all of 21 months, and the RT cave has finally been clicked on 100,000 times. Again I think this is pretty cool since when I initially started this I figured I'd be writing to myself.

It seems things have progressed quite a bit here. At first I'd sit down each day wondering what I would write about, and many times I'd be scrapping just to keep up. Now the list of ideas is so deep I can't even see the bottom. It's like an endless pit.

As other bloggers can attest, we write about whatever is on the tip of our minds, which can vary from day to day. So long as I can keep myself entertained and you interested, perhaps we'll be around for another 100,000 clicks (even if some of them are only for a couple seconds, each is an ego boost for me).

So, I would like to take this moment to once again thank all of my faithful readers and clickerers for finding my blog and finding at least a partial interest in the amalgamate of respiratory minded wit and wisdom of your humble RT.

Thanks.

Disclaimer #3

Today I'd like to list the rules of the RT Cave:

1. I have nothing to do with the ads that appear on my blog, so if you see something that offends you keep this in mind.

2. The #1 purpose for this blog is to share RT ideas, facts, opinions and humor so we can all learn in a pithy and/or entertaining manner.

3. This blog is published, edited and written by one lone night shift respiratory therapist who works full time, has three kids, and whose main mission on this planet is not as a writer, but as a husband and a dad.

4. If the author ignored his priorities (as mentioned above in #3), he would be able to delve deeper into a broader array of topics. This would be great for you guys and I'd love to do it, but it would come at the expense of time with my family, and that wouldn't be good, nor wise.

5. Due to #3 above, on occasion an error, typo, or inaccuracy may slip through the cracks. Keep in mind the editor (who's also the author) reads, re-reads, re-reads again, and again most posts. Although due to time factors, this sometimes does not occur.

6. While this isn't ideal, on occasion the publisher (who's also the writer) decides getting an idea out is more important than having an error less publication.

7. The editor has a minor in English, and therefore knows the difference between their and there. Yet, his publisher insists that he not edit while writing. Since the editor often shows up during kid time, he sometimes misses the boat at the expense of #6 above.

8. Due to #2 above, on occasion my political views become as obvious as a neon sign in a small town. While the editor makes a gallant attempt to limit this, on occasion it is necessary to make a point.

9. Besides, this is a blog, which (according to Dictionary.com) is "an online diary; a personal chronological log of thoughts published on a Web page."

10. I invite comments, and this includes criticism, praise, opinions, ideas, praise, ideas, praise, thoughts, praise...

11. The editor is committed to deleting any personal attacks. Thankfully these come seldom.

12. The publisher (who's also the writer and editor) tries to maintain a schedule for what gets posted what day, although he often violates this policy for the sake of sharing ideas that are seeping from the writer's pores and dying to get on this screen.

12. The authors writings often reflect his mood for the day. For example, if he's working he's often inclined to write about work related things. If he is on vacation he's more likely to write about something like asthma or other.

13. The frequency and length of posts often reflects upon how busy the author is. If he is burned out from working, his writings won't be as involved as when he is working and has no patients to take care of.

14. The publisher, writer and author (otherwise known as me, myself and I) try to cater to all his audiences on a regular basis, although sometimes he gets on a roll. A perfect example is last week the writer (me) didn't feel like writing about asthma, and today he doesn't feel like writing the next installment of his asthma story (that should come tomorrow).

15. I imagine these rules are true for most blogger.

I think it's important to remind my readers of this once in a while.

Respiratory Blog Carnival: A Source of Inspiration

The Trauma Junkie over at Surviving RT School is working on starting a respiratory therapy carnival that he will aptly title: A source of Inspiration.

So, what the heck is a blog carnival. According to Wikipedia, "Carnivals provide an aggregation of recent posts by (a blog) community on a given topic, and the host provides a level of editing and annotation that helps readers find posts they are interested in. Writers who submit their articles to blog carnivals are rewarded with traffic (if the host decides to give them a link and, perhaps, a positive review)."

Perhaps you've heard of Grand Rounds or Change of Shift.

To learn how you can participate in this carnival, and to find out more information about "A Source of Inspiration," click here and I will morph you over to Surviving RT School.

Keep in mind that anyone can contribute: RTs, RNs, doctors, patients and anyone else.

Top 23 Respiratory Therapy blogs of 2008

Last year I paid tribute to the 13 Respiratory Therapy (RT) blogss I was aware of at that time, and today I will provide an updated list.

What follows are all RT blogs of 2008. To qualify for my list a blogger has to have posted a minimum ten posts and have updated in the past three months.

In no particular order, here is this years list:

1. Respiratory Therapy 101: The anonymous RT has a very interesting, often humorous and non-politically correct perspective of RT life in a larger hospital down South. Long time RTs will relate with him, and new RTs can get a good feel of what it's like to be an RT from the advantages to the annoying.

2. Respiratory Therapy Up North: This is a relatively new blog from an RT who works at a large hospital as a critical care transport RT. The frozen Rt provides an honest perspective of life as an RT, but also poses ideas for interesting discussion, such as: would you pay $400 to know what bad genes you have, and what diseases you are likely to get as you age?

3. G's spot: Glenna has one of the most optimistic views on life of any blogger out there, and she provides a great perspective on the job for all up and coming and current RTs to enjoy. The best part for me is she works in the NICU and is currently training in peds. Working for a small hospital we stabilize and ship all our sick kids to a hospital like hers, so it's neat to read what life is like on that side of the RT spectrum.

4. Surviving RT School: This is the daily perspective of an RT in training. He's the Trauma Junkie because he enjoys the rush that is often a part of the job, particularly in larger trauma centers. He is a must read for any student looking to get a feel for what lies ahead in RT School. He's also gone out of his way to interview RTs -- including me -- so he and his readers can get an idea of what long timer RTs think of the profession.

5. Intubate Em!! : This RT blog provides a pithy and accurate perspective of life as an RT. Another good read for RTs, RT students and anyone (politicians anyone?) who wants to learn what it's really like to work in the medical field.

6. RTT with ADD: This is the fast paced perspective of an RT with ADD who is currently on a course to move on from her RT job to pre med. I always thought the job of RT would make a better stepping stone to a greater job than a career, and the ADD RT sets to prove me right.

7. The RT Graduate: The RT Grad writes a blog for Advance for RTs, and therefore you're bound to get an honest perspective of the job here. Sure, he usually has an optimistic view of the job, but he's still made the same observations that all RTs make somewhere along the line: Why aren't there more protocols? Why would a patient with an spo2 of 72% refuse oxygen? Or, my favorite: "The 50 previous albuterol treatments haven't healed your broken leg yet, but maybe the 51st one will."

8. Snotjockey's Revisited: She has been writing less often lately, but the things she has written are brilliant and must be read. So go ahead, click on her blog, read and scroll down and read some more. She has a very interesting perspective on the philosophical and political perspective of being an RT, RT boss and other medical ideas.

9. RT Student Blog: I always say you can learn more from RT Students than seasoned doctors mainly because students have all the up to date wisdom while seasoned doctors still go by the wisdom of the day they graduated, which is often wisdom that is antediluvian. This blogger puts a student spin on current RT wisdom.

10. The Happenings of Heidi: Here's a real life perspective of an RT. Isn't it funny how all RTs seem to develop the same type of humor. Another great RT read.

11. Sometimes I breathe: He's a student at this point, and he writes an interesting to read journal of his journey. He actually writes in such a way that it's interesting even for a long time RT

12. RT Scribe: It seems a lot of RTs started out in another field, and the same holds true with this blogger. He provides an RT student angle from across the Northern border of the U.S.

13. Consciously Breathing: What's it like to go through an RT checkoff? If you're a wanna be RT this is another great blog for you. It's the California perspective of the RT program.

14. Sleep deprived RT Student: The sleep deprived (aren't we all) RT/Medic will be finishing RT school soon. It will be neat to read how his perspective of the job changes in the days to come. But, then again, he has greater ambitions than myself.

15. The harmonous way of breath: The Tengu is a new RT student from the Detroit area. He's just started the journey to RT School with this relatively new blog.

16. Respiratory Therapy e-blog: Do you ever think why we chose the career we did? Why so many RTs wait until they are older to pursue this profession? This blogger wrote a very interesting post on this topic, so I will link you directly to it.

17. A spoonfull of Sarah: She's an RT too, and deserves to be part of the party.

18. The Respiratory Report: I should have posted this blog higher, but there's an old saying that we save the best for last. This RT has a higher calling, as he has made a gallant effort to help a little girl with a lung disease accomplish a humble goal. To learn more click here.

19. Beautifully Bittersweet: The perspectie of a Pediatric RT.

The following are not necessarilly blogs, but I will include them here anyway:

20. Jeff Whitnack's RT Page: You need to check this page out from time to time to remind yourself of the importance oxygenating COPD patients regardless of that antediluvian Hypoxic Drive Theory.

21. RT Corner: For all the up to date RT wisdom this is the ideal web site.

22. RT Space: This is a community for respiratory therapists.

23. Vent World: This is a community to ask and receive information on ventilator and other respiratory therapy topics.

So that concludes my list for this year. I'm sure there are many more RT bloggers out and about in the blogosphere that I'm unaware of. If you have an RT blog, or know of one you think should be listed here, let me know.

The doors to the RT cave are still open

The Respiratory Therapy Cave opened its doors to the blogging world just over three months ago, and we have reached our first milestone: 10,000 page impressions.

This technically speaking is not a big deal, except for when I started this blog I figured I'd just be writing to myself. I never expected to pick up regular readers, let alone have 10,000 page impressions three months later.

When I started this I had no clue what a blog even was. By looking at statistics a few days ago, I know now that I was not in the minority, as 92% of Americans that have access to the Internet do not blog. Or, if they do blog, they don't know they are doing it.

In three months I've learned quite a bit about the blogging world, and still have a lot more to learn. I'm still not quite sure what RSS feed is, but I know I use it. I thought I was simply out of the loop, but yesterday I asked my brother, who creates web sites, what RSS feed was and he said he had no clue either.

As far as I know, I'm the only person in Shoreline County who blogs. Not one person I've asked at work blogs.

My brother said people who blog are nerds. I thought that was kind of ironic considering he spends 12 hours a day in front of a computer. If anyone is a nerd, it's him. Hear that Lucky, you're a nerd.

I think it was some character on the Simpson's who defined nerd on a recent episode. NERD: Not Even Relatively Dorky.

So I digress, As far as I know, I am the only person in Shoreline who blogs. That's why I'm not too worried about my boss finding out I'm writing about her on this site. Well, I haven't written anything bad about her yet, but I could.

When I started this I figured I would write something, oh, maybe once a week if not every two weeks. Somehow, to this point, I've managed to find something to write once a day. On days I'm tired I think the writing tank will run dry, but when I'm wide awake ideas flow form my pen like balls on a billiards table.

Am I interesting? Is my writing unique? Is my writing any good? I don't care.

That's the neat thing about having my own blog: I can write about whatever I want.

As a former marketing and journalism student I know I could better target my writing to one specific audience and gain more readers, but that's not the point of this blog.

The point of this blog is to have fun writing about things I'm passionate about. If people are entertained, or learn something in the process, that's a bonus. If I wrote for any other reason than to entertain myself this would cease to be a hobby, and would become another job.

That I definitely don't want.

So I had no clue I'd be here three months later. I thought I'd write a few weeks and then move on to something else. So, for the fact that I'm still here, I have to thank all of you who have clicked on my blog.

Honestly, I didn't have a clue what would happen when I opened the door to the RT Cave to the blogging world. So far, it's been a cool ride.

2007 great year for respiratory therapy blogs

The RT cave has been around for three months now, and it seems to me to be a pretty good success, especially considering when I started doing this I thought I'd be writing to myself. I'm impressed at how big the medblog community is.

I would like to thank all of you who have responded to one or more of my posts by writing a comment, sending an email, or simply using up some of your valuable time here at the RT Cave. You guys provide me the incentive to keep writing.

To end the year, I would like to pay tribute to all respiratory related medblogs I have discovered to date. I see that 2007 was a great year for the RT world as most of these sites were started just this year. We are the beginning of a revolution.\

The following is in no particular order.

1. Respiratory Therapy 101: I was doing research on protocols when I came upon this website. I thought the Anonymous RT did an excellent job of describing what we do "at the head of the bed." He works at a larger, busier hospital than mine, and it's great to read about what I'm missing by working at a small town hospital -- and what I'm not missing.

2. Respiratory Therapy Driven: Djanvk is in the same boat as me, as he has been doing this for 10+ years and works at a small town hospital. It is a challenge to keep finding things to write about when business is slow, but this guy does a wonderful job of it. He provides an excellent feel for what it's like to be an RT, and he also has a great sense of humor, as do most of us RTs.

3. Snotjockeys: A perfect name for a respiratory therapy blog, and an excellent place to get insightful information about respiratory therapy. Julia has written some excellent posts about the challenges facing RTs, and does the medblog world a great service by her medblog reviews.

4. G's spot. I wish every RT was as pleasant as this blogger, because she's written on more than one occasion how much she loves her job. She works nights as I do, and has to struggle with getting adequate sleep, and I can relate to her that way. And yet she doesn't let the lack of sleep effect her job. She gives an excellent feel of the RT job.

5. respiratory therapy student blog: How cool it would have been to have have had the ability to blog when I was in school. We all remember the struggles of working as an RT, doing clinicals, studying late into the night, fitting in some social gatherings, attending classes, and taking tests. And when vacation time came along, we really appreciated them. Great blog from a student perspective. Soon he'll have to change the name of his blog to RTblog.com.

6. Sleepy RT medic: How cool it would have been to have had experience as a medic before going to RT school. That's what this blogger is doing. This blogger also provides an excellent reminder of how difficult it is to hold a job and go to school. Like #5, he provides some good information on things we RTs take for granted once we finish school.

7. Sometimes I breathe: The same can be said of this blogger as the last two, as he provides a good reminder of how hard it is to become an RT. Since these student RT bloggers are still in school, they have access to all the latest information and can provide us older RTs with links to some cool RT related websites.

8. Breathing through school: Another RT student blogger who has recently decided to brave the blogger world. I think this was a good idea for her, because she's provided some neat incite. In one post she describes RT school as "weeding out the garden." While many aspiring RTs will enter, only a few will leave.

9. RTT with ADD: Despite her ADD, this blogger provides more cool incite into being an RT. She once described reading blogs, "as though I'm intruding...intruding into their personal thoughts, feelings, emotions and most of all, their personal space..." That's very true. And one reason why we bloggers should make money for what we do, say $30 a word.

10. Pulmonary Roundtable: Great place to read about, learn from and discuss RT case studies.

11. Respiratory Therapy Blog: He hasn't written in a while, but when you read what he has written you can't help but to learn something. Here's hoping he writes more soon.

12. The Respiratory Terrorist: Ditto. Here's hoping he writes again soon.

13. Any more RT bloggers out there? If I left your RT blog off this list it's only because I haven't found it yet. Leave me a comment and I'll plug your blog in the new year.

Here's a toast (raises glass) to a happy new year.