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By Lisa Fryer posted 02-11-2011 10:27

  
I am frustrated. 25 years, RRT, CPFT. At 46 I am one of the oldest ones here. There are only a handful of us that are RRT, us older ones. The majority are quite young and have no desire to be RRT. Some of them took 6 or 7 times to pass CRT. My hospital holds their jobs for them when their limited permits expire. I have been a member of AARC for 26 years, the only one here. When I graduated, we just expected it of ourselves to become Registered. I go to seminars and get excited. I bring pamphlets and articles from AARC Times to my director. I'm sure she throws them away. A few years ago I put up postings twice in my dept. about deadline for RRT test without retaking CRT. They mysteriously disappeared. I don't think our hospital wants us to advance. They even discourage ACLS. Now we have to go through remedial training on airway management, because the head ER Doc says he is tired of having to remind some of us to secure the ET tube or suction the pt. etc. This is embarrassing to hear this. Is our profession being "dumbed down"? (By the way, this hospital is run by nurses. That makes a difference. We haven't had a respiratory therapist over our dept. in years.)
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Michael Nibert
02-15-2011 00:05

Lisa- I have invited you to be a contact on AARConnect so I hope you will accept and read my profile. I am a cheerleader for this profession after 40 years and still counting. I encourage you to surround yourself with the right kind of professionals and this networking site is loaded with the right ones. I also encourage you to look for a change in your professional life. I hope you will find the courage to do so and be happy to be a Respiratory Therapist once again. Life is too short to have this professional black cloud hanging over your head. I wish you the best-----------

Mark Stronati
02-14-2011 16:57

I think it is time for you to find a place that fits you better. youcan't change managers or systems in a short time unless the majority are supporting the change. The other option is to manage the patients that you see and develop a relationship with the physicians you work with to improve your environment.

Lisa Becker
02-13-2011 22:55

It should not take a therapist six or seven tries to pass the CRT. I know it's been a long time since I took that test, almost 20 years, but I had studied so hard for that exam, I thought there was something wrong. I was flying through what I was told would be a difficult test. Out of 120 questions, I missed 12. I've been a therapist almost as long as you have been, and this has been my experience. You're wasting your time and frustration looking to other therapists to care about, and invest in our profession the same way that we do. If they want to sit with an entry level degree and have to have remedial training over and over to manage a simple airway, so be it. That's not us. How I've kept happy as a therapist for so long is to take over my own professional training, to keep learning and growing. What is it about your job that you love? Are you ready to take on further credentials? Are you ready for research, learning more about the disease processes that bring our patients to us in the first place? This is one wonderful field with endless learning possibilities. Take advantage, and look forward.