Hi all. Just wondering if you could give me some information on the career respiratory therapist. Things like do they have the option to run codes and intubate themselves? Can they work in operating rooms? Is there any opportunities for advancements? How long is schooling and where in Saskatchewan, Canada can you go to school to be one? Whats the average salary in Canada? Any information you could give me on this career would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Respiratory Therapist
- Thread starter Dr. Matt
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Moving to Allied Health forum.
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Respiratory therapists are a part of the code team in every hospital around here. They intubate at some facilities but not others. Generally, RTs do not work in the OR, as the anesthesia machine has a built-in vent that the anesthesiologist runs, so that they can tweak settings on the fly as the patient's vitals change. The only exception to this is the rare case that you're using a nose of ventilation that the anesthesia vent doesn't support (APRV, for instance) in which case you'll sit, mostly bored, in the OR for a couple hours. The best time you'll have is managing vents and working with really sick patients in the ICU. There isn't a lot of opportunity for advancement, however, and you'll peak out as a department manager at best most likely. Anything beyond that and you're looking at getting a MHA/MBA or RN degree (nurses have far more upward mobility). Can't comment on local salaries though, all I know about Canadian RTs is that they tend to be fairly well compensated, roughly on the level of a nurse in many places.
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I'm an American respiratory therapist. I'm only peripherally familiar with Canadian practice.
At the hospitals I have worked at, we do intubate. We also place arterial lines. Oddly enough, I can place a brachial or fem, but the CRNAs can only place radial lines.
In a code situation, I'm usually managing the airway. I can run the code, just like any other ACLS provider, but there's usually someone whose hands and attention aren't otherwise occupied doing that.
In many Canadian provinces, RTs are found in the operating room as anesthesia assistants. They also function as anesthesia providers in some provinces, although I'm uncertain of the particulars. It's usually a 3 year technical diploma with a salary between $40,000-60,000. You'll be able to intubate and usually you can place arterial lines. Canadian therapists have much more professional respect than their American counterparts. On our side of the border, almost nobody actually knows what I'm trained to do or how well I'm trained to do it, so therapists are treated like the nurse's oxygen and breathing treatment flunky, which is an inappropriate role for a Registered therapist to assume.
You'll want to check with the Canadian Society of Respiratory Therapists for the particulars in your province.
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I often wonder how this came to be. Considering our profession started here in the states, how did we manage to fall so far behind while our Canadian counterparts surged so far ahead?
