What The Hell is an RT?

I'm sick and tired of telling people about my job,I am a respiratory therapist! but they don't know what it is !hahaha and they were like,what the hell is that?! Every time I'm chatting online or meeting some one on a date and they would ask about my job,they have no idea about it.Unless of course if you work on a hospital like me.

So i decided to give you guys an idea about the nature of my work,I searched some pictures so that you would have a much clearer understanding.I worked as an RT for 5 years at a tertiary hospital in the south.My course in college was B.S Respiratory Therapy.But i gotta admit,only few are getting this course we are not as popular as the PT's or the OT's and the Nurses,well maybe because this is not a glamorous job.

So here it is :

When a patient arrived at the ER and have a difficulty of breathing (nangingitim na kuko at mga kamay and lips) and all signs indicating that he needs an invasive help to breath (OR any patient confined at the hospital) we immediately do a procedure- intubation where-in the doctor will insert a tube into his mouth directly to his trachea(lalamunan) and lungs to breath.We are required to be there when they start to do this.We assist the doctor together with the duty nurse.I was the one responsible checking the air sounds if the doctor inserted the tube right.If I say "out" he will do it again until he's "in" hehe taray!

Code blue-this is the craziest time! If I'm on duty especially at night!(tanggal ang antok ko!haha).When they call our laboratory and say its a code blue humanda ka na!This is when a patient suddenly stops breathing or suffered a cardiac arrest.Everyone was like running here and there giving this and that medication and injections to make the heart beats again.What is my role?I am the one giving the CPR,the heart compressions(like you see on the pic,kapag napagod salitan kami ng doctor or headnurse) and sometimes using defibrillators.The staff included in a code blue are: the doctor,me(RT),head nurse,nurse,med tech,x-ray tech,midwife and an orderly.This usually takes 30minutes to 1 hour,and I gotta tell you its tiring you have to make that patient alive in 30minutes to an hour,if not,dedo na yun!

Once we revived the patient's heart,I have to rush to the ICU to prepare this machine:the mechanical Ventilator-responsible for breathing for the patient until he can completely breaths on his/her own.I have to set and manipulate this machine with the doctors orders on how many breaths it have to give and how much air does a patient needs including the alarm systems.

Then here it is,after checking if the machine is ready,I will hook the patient in its tubings and check again if there is an equal air going in and out of the lungs.If there are too much secretions(like plema or dugo)we need to suction it using a suction machine sometimes an entire bottle was filled with this secretions so kadiri talaga!Pero sanay na me!hehe.I can compare it to a Bavarian fillings hehe

Same procedure with the infants.Then we have to monitor these patients whether adult or babies every now and then and coordinate with the nurses.That's why the nurses are my best friends!hehe

we do check their tubings and conditions if they are comfortable and if they are ready to breath on their own,we asses and do some suggestions to the doctors.

This is a less invasive gadget,we call this the oxygen hood.That plastic container was sealed and oxygen are inside to help the baby breath.

This is the PFT machine,this procedure is sooo tiring for me and the patient! I takes 30minutes or more to be done!especially if the patient cant understand your instructions (they may be too old or too weak or deaf to follow! lagott)This machine measures your lung's capacity and functions.Most of our patients are those with complications due to smoking and those with asthma and patients who will undergo a surgery.

This is my favorite,I'm good in extracting blood from the artery. This is called arterial blood gas or ABG.This is really really painful!When we were just students,we are required to do this with our partners!Ang sakit nito waaa!According to my instructor we have to experience this so that we have an idea how painful it is so that we will be gentle to our future patients.

This is the most boring part of our job,the nebulization-this treatment is given to patients who have difficulty of breathing,the medicine inside release mist and absorbed by the lungs once you inhale it,dilating the airways and air sacs.I'm glad we have an assistant to do that job.In other hospital the nurses are the one doing this.

Whew!this is long haha.But those are only few important part of my work, there are more procedure and gadgets we use for the therapy/monitoring of the lungs,I'm afraid it will just bore you guys to death so I rather not talk about it anymore.I hope I gave you an idea of my exciting and tiring job.But I love this job.I hope I can work abroad na,wala pa ko visa!!tagal nman!hehe.