Help from past/present R.R.T.'s

[pw079]

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Hello All,
I am looking into the Respiratory Therapist program at the local comm. college and if i took this and graduated what type of salary will i recieve, and if i was to work for a while then want to go to a PA program then how would i do that i want to go to a masters PA program so how would i use my Associates to get there??????

PS: Open to any other paths or suggestion you all have.

 

[rtdoc]

I believe that your salary as a new grad will depend on what part of the country you will be and what is the demand will be there. In general you may start in the high 20's or low 30's for a new grad and move up from there slowly... Most of this job is not what you know and it is more on how many years have you been doing this. The best source to find out about salaries in the respiratory field will be in the AARC.org site which is the national organization of for the respiratory practitioners.

If you are planning to work towards another field after Respiratory, I suggest the you plan to work in a tertiary care hospital (teaching hospital such as the state, county, or city hospital) to gain your experience and see how all different aspects of all health care field work instead of choosing a community hospital. While you are doing that, you may also want to get a bachelors degree because since you want to work into a PA program and the only way for you to get a Master's is that you have to get a bachelors and there is no way in skipping that aspect... Check the schools that you are interested in getting into for the PA program and contact them about the pre-reqs that you need to get before you can apply to their program.

As for me who worked in the RT field was a great experience for the last 5 years and I saw my fair share of many different types of patients since I did work in large teaching hospitals. If I had to do it again, I personally would not have gone into this field, but gone into Nursing. RT is considered to be the lowest in the totem pole of all the Allied Health fields in my opinion. Why? You don't get the recognition that you deserve and if you do, some one may take it away and that is the nature of the job. You are the support staff between the Nurse and the Physician. However, the good thing is that you will be always needed when there is any problems with the vents or the patient is having trouble breathing. Also, there are limited opprotunities to branch out of respiratory, but not as much as being a Nurse and a nurse makes more money than an RT. Since you want to be a PA, you will have to jump hurdles. Go become a nurse and get your BSN and after go to get your Master's in Nursing and you can be a Nurse Practitioner and be equal to a PA... the only limit you have there is the sky since Nursing offers lotso fo possibilities out there....

As for me, I used to be an RT for 5 years that worked in large teaching hospitals and decided that this job was not stimulating me at all and decided to go the medical school and now I am the verge of finishing my 2nd year and 2 more to go and be a physician at that time. I never went to get an associate's in RT and I just got a BS in RT and that offers good opportunitiesas well...

Hope that this helps.

 

[uli2000]

I will really depend on where you work after school. I went to school and worked in Phoenix. Wages there are low (starting ~$16/hr for staff, ~$23/hr for registry) due to a abundance of RT schools in the area. Also, like RTDoc stated, you will get no respect for what you do. I recently moved to a rural hospital in NV. Wages are better (mid 20's/hr), but the best part of the job is the respect I get from the nurses and especially the physicians. The docs here ask our opinions and listen to our suggestions. Many of the docs here also preffer us to intubate and run the codes with their supervision. I even have doc's lounge privleges and a locker in the physicians lockeroom. If you really want to be a RT before going to PA/med school, try as many areas of the field as you can before going on. I loved adult ICU and Trauma. Ive also done homecare, PFT's, and may look at starting a small PSG buisness. The experience will only help you at the next level.

 

[pharmergirl]

I loved adult ICU and Trauma. Ive also done homecare, PFT's, and may look at starting a small PSG buisness. The experience will only help you at the next level.[/QUOTE]

What do you mean by PSG business? What does PSG stand for?

 

[uli2000]

I loved adult ICU and Trauma. Ive also done homecare, PFT's, and may look at starting a small PSG buisness. The experience will only help you at the next level.

What do you mean by PSG business? What does PSG stand for?[/QUOTE]

Polysomnographic studies (sleep studies). Doing sleep testing for sleep apnea, narcolepsy, and other sleep disorders. You dont have to be a RT to do them, but you will know more and have a better understanding.

 

[deleted6669]

There actually are a few "bachelors completion option ms programs"
in which you enter with an associates do a few extra classes for a bachelors then continue on for the ms all in one fluid progression. pacific university has such a program as do a few other schools. check around.
http://www.pacificu.edu/admissions/grad/pa/bachelor.cfm

 

[ISU_Steve]

Personally, as a practicing CRT for the past 4 yrs (I'm taking my registry exam here in a couple of months), I normally recommend nursing to everyone who asks me if I think it is something they should pursue as a career- but that's mostly for people who have no desire to pursue anything further. Respiratory really isn't a good field for anyone who is terribly ambitious, it's a very small field and there are already far too many big fish (or at least people who think they are) for it to be a field for the upwardly mobile.

Now, about your situation: RT is not a bad job for a college student- it's easy work for the most part, and if you find a small hospital to work at on the night shift it borders on being a slacker job. I basically get paid about $20 an hour ($22 an hour on weekends) to study. I may do a few breathing treatments or vent checks, but most of the time most nights I'm sitting around studying or just chatting with the other staff. I voluntarily wear the ER pager because that cuts down on my inpatient load so that I can study (and our hospital is far enough out in the country that we don't see many critical patients).

Bear in mind that there's a reason I picked the hospital I work at-I don't want the exposure to exciting and challenging cases, I've already had it (I just want a paycheck and to be able to do what I enjoy doing which is taking care of people). I spent two years as a flight therapist for the Air Force, then worked at a trauma center and rehab hospital before deciding to go back to school. If you want the clinical exposure, go to a bigger hospital, but if you want a guarantee that you'll have time to study for class and basically get paid to do it go to the smallest and most rural hospital you can find.

 

[ISU_Steve]

But if you want a insanely lucrative job, learn to shot echos (U/S imaging of the heart). I do this one or two days a week and make a lot more I do as an RT (not to mention that I have the local cardiologists under contract, so I set my own rates (about $100-200 per echo depending on the doc I am working with and whether the patient is a kid or an adult) and there is such a shortage around here so there is a major backlog at the hospital (2 weeks is the standard wait time and that's a minimum normally) so there is no shortage of business. I shoot 4 or 5 echos every Thursday and maybe another 5 or 6 on a Saturday if I am in the mood to work (and that's the great thing, if I need a day off, I just don't book myself any pts that day). Even after Uncle Sam gets done with taking his share I still make a lot of money. Put it this way, if I didn't want to go back to school, and just decided to shoot echos as an independent contractor (billing on a per echo basis) 8 hrs a day 5 days a week, I could easily make more money that I would as a general dentist.

Of course, the only problem is that long term the market for this kind of work will dry up as more people enter the field, but it provides for me very well until I get out of school.

 

[uli2000]

Thats cool about the echos. I had looked into it, but It would have required another two years of schooling where I lived. Also, the small rural hospital I work at doesnt have a cardiologist, so the traveling cardiology clinic brings a echo machine here once a month.

As far as working in a rural hospital, I have to agree it is much easier, but I would not do it first thing. I am very slow (I would make steve look busy), but you need a broad knowledge base, as often you have no one you can ask if you dont know something. Last week, we had to do a emergent tracheotomy on a MVA patient. None of the nursing staff or the er or IM doc had ever done one (our er doc that weekend was a rheumatologist who will occasionally pull a shift or two for extra cash). Luckily, I had assisted many times with bedside trachs at another hospital I had worked at. I had everything preped and ready to go when the surgeon arrived from his dinner party. He made the incision, put in the trach, and left. I had to secure the trach and apply the gauze dressings. That kid is alive because of that trach. If I hadnt been thought that situation before, he most likely would be dead. I hate to brag about things like that, but when you are the only one, you got to have your stuff down.

 

[ISU_Steve]

See, I've been an EMT and EMT-Intermediate for about 8 yrs now, so the airway management side of things was nothing new (I remember all the other students being nervous about learning to intubate and I was like "What's the big deal?"), but you're totally right and that was an excellent point about experience.

 

[Weebils-Wobble]

Hello All,
I am looking into the Respiratory Therapist program at the local comm. college and if i took this and graduated what type of salary will i recieve, and if i was to work for a while then want to go to a PA program then how would i do that i want to go to a masters PA program so how would i use my Associates to get there??????

PS: Open to any other paths or suggestion you all have.

In a thread titled Peeing in the RT pool again that is recent, there is some honest reflection on the RT job.

You first must consider what credits from that program will transfer to other schools. The core curicculum will likely not. As a job that you can use to make money while you persue a career, then it is cake. If you want respect, then maybe being a crack ***** would be better for your self-esteem.


All kidding aside, you need to know what credits will transfer. Once you know that, you will have your starting point to make a projection of future requirements.

 

[guetzow]

You will double to triple salary as a PA (Easily), and 'might' do that as an RN, 'if' you get a cush unit gig in a specialty hospital (Mighty fierce odds, though). RRT is a waste of time if you plan to move on. Still are a couple of Bachelors PA programs out there (Though in the minority more and more). If you go RN, you could consider either PA or NP. Currently, PA offers more specialty options, but this too, is quickly changing. Probably a matter of time before both are doing the same thing. Contractually, they are the same anyways. It's wide open 👍 .