Lisa,
I read your posting with great interest and can appreciate your plight.
Here are a couple of thoughts for you to consider.
Does your RT department have quality/outcomes goals and how are you doing? Specifically, what value does your department provide to your hospital. If it's 'Treatments Done' (I'm really hoping that this isn't the case but I"ve seen this in nearly countless number of hospitals), can you change this misguided focus to 'what happens when we provide great care?' (e.g. length of stay, ventilated patient wean rate, readmissions to ED/hospital for COPD and asthma patients within 30 days after discharge etc.)
If the person leading your department isn't an RT, can you discuss with her/him that it would be in this person's best interest to engage the staff in documenting and communicating their value.
I'll gladly help from afar.
Garry Kauffman, RRT, FAARC