Monday, March 9, 2009

Why RT As A 2d Career (or why not)

Tonight, I would prefer to be selfish and blog something about my clinical rotation in my region's prestigious children's hospital.  But I think I'll wait for that.  Instead, I think I'll feel better all around if I share some ideas about "why Respiratory Therapy" (or why not), if you happen to be changing careers right now.

You might want to switch to Respiratory Therapy if:

-  you're an unredeemed hippie at heart, and you believe breathing is a Fundamental Mystery.

-  your work-life has disintegrated under you, and you realize that breathing cannot be outsourced to a phone bank in India.

-  you've been working (or hardly working) at something you believe is trivial, and it occurs to you that breathing matters a LOT.

-  you're amazed at how stubbornly persistent Life is.

-  you like finding out about stuff that is all around you, that you take for granted, and you like learning something completely new about it.

-  even though blood and guts and snot might bother you, you try a clinical shadow and discover that seeing grey people turn pink and open their eyes and say "thank you" can cure your nausea instantly.

-  you like science, OR you always thought you were too stupid for science (science isn't hard).

-  you've had more than your share of school and tests, and coached your kids through still more school and more tests, and you figure h#ll, two more years of school and tests can't be the end of the world if it gets you to something fresh and interesting.

-  you like helping people; OR you are a shy person who prefers to deal with people within strictly limited parameters.  (That's me.  I'm miserable at a cocktail party, but I'm very happy to provide a defined service I've been trained to do, for strangers who stay put in their hospital beds.) 


You might NOT want to switch to Respiratory Therapy if:

-  you sincerely like your current work, despite its disappointments, and you want to find another way to apply your existing skills.

-  you can't stand (or can't understand) working as an hourly employee.

-  you don't like working in a predominately female environment.  Respiratory Care is about 1/3 male -- a larger percentage than many other allied health professions.  But I switched from a predominantly male professional setting, and the henhouse politics were new to me.  

-  you find it hard to work with or work for people who are younger, less experienced, and less mature than you are and who have more extensive credentials than you do.  (Get used to this.  If you change fields late in your career, this is inevitable.)  

-  you are deeply invested in "being somebody" in the broader sense.  No one in an allied profession will be "somebody", unless they write a book or make a movie like Erin Brockovich.  However, you will definitely be the most important person on the planet to the patient you help to breathe. 


Hope this helps.  As an RT, you have tremendous career flexibility.  You can go into management, or you can kick back and be hourly.  You can travel to cool places where there is a short term need for respiratory therapists (very cool places or, for even more money, less cool places).  You can work a standard full-time schedule, or you can work contingent when you feel like it.  You can do research. You can write or publish in your new field.  You can just do a good job keeping sick people breathing and put it all out of your mind when you go home, but believe me, that matters a LOT.  (Just don't tell your patients that you forget all about your workday when you go home.)

Do remember that this is not investment banking.  Absent the best-selling book or the movie deal, you're not going to get rich doing this.  But you won't be out of work (everybody breathes).  And if you like stimulating work that matters to other people, you won't be bored or feel worthless.

Namaste::::Maize    

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