Blogs

Why our patients need us

By Shawna Strickland posted 11-07-2013
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It's no secret that many of our chronic respiratory illness patients need better education for disease management. In fact, there are a great number of lectures at AARC Congress 2013 dedicated to this topic. However, every now and then, something happens that brings this fact screaming to the front of my brain. Last week, I was reading yet another article about how inhaler training is inadequate (http://www.physiciansbriefing.com/Article.asp?AID=681550). As I sipped my coffee, I just shook my head sadly. "We need to get respiratory therapist into the physicians offices," I thought to myself. (Spoiler...here comes my daily endorsement of HR 2619.) If we could ...
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Keeping up with state licenses and NBRC credentials

By Shawna Strickland posted 01-25-2015
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I don't think anyone will be surprised to learn that the AARC Customer Service team, Reagan (the AARC continuing education coordinator), and I receive a lot of questions about renewing state licenses and NBRC credentials. This can be a tricky part of professional life to navigate, especially for new RTs. I know that many (hopefully all) of our educators talk about these things at graduation time but not every RT will remember that conversation. First, let's talk about CRCE. Continuing respiratory care education is important to our practice though many of us think of it as a nuisance and waste of time. Sometimes CRCE takes a current concept like airway clearance ...
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RT intubation

By Jeff Plough posted 06-09-2014
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I am being asked to research how many RT departments across the country intubate? We intubate at our facility, but our Risk department is wondering how prevalent this is accross the nation. In my research I have not been able to locate any such reference. I appreciate your help and insight!
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Respect of Respiratory Therapist, where has it gone??

By Pamela Jenkins posted 02-03-2011
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Hello Respiratory community, I am addressing a topic that I believe to be on the minds of many respiratory therapist, who are curious to wonder what happened to the respect of Respiratory Therapists in the healthcare world. I work with many RNs and physicians, and from my education knowledge, we were taught to be proud of our profession and to know what we know and to practice our profession with the highest quality of knowledge and confidence. But in my experience of performing my job, I have come to realize that as a therapist, RTs are looked over in the medical field. Now dont miconstrue the situation, this may not go on in all medical places, but I think ...
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Respiratory Union

By Ron DiLorenzo posted 10-13-2014
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I see Nurses have unions, where's Respiratory Therapist's Union??? With everything going on out there, Enterovirus68 , Respiratory virus's, Ebola. Who's looking out for us? The AARC? not so much. any thoughts? any ideas?
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Drive4COPD

By Shawna Strickland posted 01-30-2014
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I started working with the Drive4COPD in 2010 as the Missouri D4C captain. For 3 years, I attended/supported/organized so many Drive4COPD events in Missouri that I could recite the 5 question survey in my sleep. When I joined the AARC, my participation in the D4C was put on hold as I learned my new job and settled into a new area. Two days ago, I got back in the swing of things. Working with Jason Moury, D4C coordinator, I helped with an event in downtown Dallas at the national Greyhound headquarters. With my colleagues Doug Laher and Steve Nelson and my new RT friend Deirdre Farahani, we screened over 120 people for risk factors for COPD. However, the great ...
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Nebulizer placement for vent pts?

By James McKinney posted 02-24-2011
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I'm curious where most RT's feel the correct placement of a neb is in a vent circuit? I have three scenarios that I see in Florida. All using a valved tee. 1.) Place the neb between the in-line suction device and the HME and don't remove the HME (if using humidifier then between the in-line suction device and the circuit wye. 2.) Place the neb at the wye on the inspiratory side between the insp circuit limb connector and the wye. (By-Pass or remove HME if used). 3.) Place the neb at the beginning of the inspiratory limb (Between vent outlet and insp limb and by-pass the HME) (or with humidifier--between humidifier chamber and insp limb. There are ...
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CRT vs RRT

By Mark Brady posted 06-03-2010
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I think I am going to have to go along with Ray on this one. I also came off the street in 1972 and worked hard until I was registered. At St Francis in Topeka we have a 4 grade pay difference between CRT and RRT. We did add a second level of CRT for those therapists who can work independently in ICU and ED but that is only a 2 pay grade jump. If you do not have a difference in pay you remove a level of motivation, even though that should not be the motivational force behind the advancement. To pay the CRTs the same as the RRTs is an insult to those who took the initiative to advance as far as they can. Its probably too late to make an all out change but ...
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Respiratory therapist getting fired & replaced with a four hour course. What do you think?

By Scott Richey posted 03-14-2014
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I don't know if any one has seen this in the news ~ 2 weeks ago? Click Link: http://www.wdrb.com/story/24883646/kentuckyone-health-cuts-respiratory-therapists-from-emergency-rooms?autoStart=true&topVideoCatNo=default&clipId=9910157 Also wondering what people think & if they have experienced similar cuts in their departments.
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OptiFlow vs Vapotherm's Precisonflow

By Carol Saunders posted 12-03-2014
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See the original Discussion Post
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Respiratory Therapy Protocols in the ED

By Michael Davis posted 05-19-2015
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The Respiratory Therapy Dept. at this hospital is a VERY progressive, goal oriented department; knee-deep in protocols throughout all inpatient areas. Due to this level of involvement throughout the inpatient areas, the RCP’s are a well-respected member of the healthcare team. However, in the ER setting, our organization is operating in a very antiquated task-managed physician-says-caregiver-does model. As you all could imagine, this results in a very low-level of respect for the RCPs in this environment. Therefore, we are looking to drastically change the role of the RCP in the ER. We envision a model in which the RCP [who primarily resides in the ...
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CMS Reimbursement

By David Dunlap posted 05-19-2014
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Colleagues, The Charge Manager at our sysemy has noticed a significant increase in CMS reimbursement for select Respiratory Care specific CPT codes. Those codes and the 2014 vs. 2013 reimbursement from our intermediary are listed below: CPT-HCPCS 2014 APC Wage Adjusted 2013 APC Wage Adjusted 94640 $74.74 $33.66 94150 $54.84 $43.22 94664 $74.74 $33.66 ...
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Renewal of Active Status with NBRC

By Michael Nibert posted 05-03-2010
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Hello AARC Friends, I just found out by calling the NBRC that they no longer send out renewal stickers to place on your NBRC wallet card verifying active status The NBRC now issues a wallet size "magnet" upon renewal and the lady helping me has said this has caused issues with members throwing them away not realizing what they were. I asked for another one to be mailed as I do not recall a "magnet" being sent to me in the mail. Have you received a renewal magnet? To magnify the confusion, some 2010 stickers were mailed prior to the magnet decision. Active status renewal is simply a $25.00 yearly fee and the benefits of renewal can be found on www.nbrc.org ...
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Respiratory Care Week Facts- Day by Day

By Michael Nibert posted 10-23-2011
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Hello & Happy RC Week, One of the things I have done historically and started again today is to post one fact each day concerning a topic related to our profession. I post this on social networking sites such as Twitter, FB as well as hospital e-mail to all employees. Here is the first one for today and I will respond to my own Blog each day with the remaining 6 facts. If you like the idea, copy and paste or develop your own daily facts. Wishing you a great week ! Respiratory Care Week Fact # 1: The Mission and History of Respiratory Care Week In 1982, the American Association for Respiratory Therapy (later changed to American ...
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Did you Receive this?

By Brian Cayko posted 02-17-2015
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hey Montana RT's, I am curious as to how many of you subscribe to this forum. please simply reply with a yes if you received/saw this message. Thanks! Brian Cayko, RRT Great Falls
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AAS VS BS

By Delia Lechtenberg RRT posted 11-04-2011
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I have very mixed feelings about the AAS vs BS. I currently run an AAS program that has been in this community for over 30 years. I would not want anything to happen to this program, considering that I have ran it for 19 of the 30 years and have taken complete ownership of it! This program has graduated 100's of therapists which range from CRT to RRT. We have seen a shift state-wide with the hospitals now changing their requirements for employment. Locally, the hospitals hire new CRT grads with the caveat that within 3 years they are to have successfully written the RRT to keep their jobs. This was a long time coming, after years of preaching to the ...
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What do you think about this workload ?

By Ariel Garnero posted 01-29-2011
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Few days ago I was scheduled to work at certain Community Hospital, a small one where only two RTs work per shift. This time it was I (work for an Staffing Agency) and an Staff RT. My day was good until I received my assingment for the day which in few words consisted of: 5 QIDs 2 Q4h 4 Q6h (one in ER) 3 Q6prn (one taking Q6 txs) 1TID 1Vent (vent dependent pt in isolation) Q2 checks and Q6 in line Txs a couple of O2 checks... When I saw this assignment my italian blood started boiling... The Staff Rt took 4 Q4h 1 Q4prn 1 QID 1Q6h The shift started at 06:00 am so after getting something that couldn't be called report, started my Txs at 06:30am. Almost ...
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What does being a respiratory therapist mean to you?

By Shawna Strickland posted 03-23-2013
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One of the many perks of working at the AARC is that I get to talk to people from all over the world in various stages of their careers: seeking to become a respiratory therapist, respiratory therapists seeking work, respiratory therapists seeking tools with which to be more effective, respiratory therapists seeking further education, etc. Over the past three months I've had dozens of conversations with people about almost every aspect of our profession. Like all respiratory therapists, I wish that we were as recognizable as other health professionals. Yesterday, I had a conversation with a person who is looking into respiratory therapy as a career. Like ...
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Respiratory Protocols

By Edda Avila posted 04-26-2011
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I conducted a survey asking the benefit of a protocol program in our hospital. I was surprised to hear that some RT's are concerned that that if we change treatments to PRN they will be sent home due to decrease in work load. I would appreciate any feedback with your experiences with protocols and productivity changes. thank you, Edda Avila
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Nitric Oxide Use and alternatives

By Greg Merritt posted 11-06-2014
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I wanted to reach out to other facilities that are using Nitric Oxide. The use of this gas continues to be a growing concern due to the aggressive price increases of the company. I know there was some discussion about 12th man, but I have not heard anything within the past 2 years. We are looking for alternatives to delivering this expensive therapy. Has anyone had success with decreasing the use of nitric oxide? If so would you mind sharing your success? I have experience with the use of Flolan and Illiprost (inhaled,) but that is a tough sell for the physicians. Respectfully, Greg Merritt Clinical Educator Medical City Children's Hospital
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