The PediaRTritian is born

Pediatrics are an interesting bunch, sometimes they receive treatments like adults and others times they are treated totally differently. Either way we all know pediatric patients do cause some nervousness with certain people.

I like to think that I have quite a bit of experience with pediatric patients. Lets see I worked in a level 3 NICU which I was also on the neonatal transport team where a RN and RT would fly or drive babies born with problems, normally respiratory problems. I have also worked in a Pediatric ICU along with different peds units. On top of all of that I also have 4, yes I said 4 kids at home. I've been around the peds population a bit.

So you ask where am I going with this? Well it has to do with the small town hospital I work at currently. Now this is a small town hospital that really doesn't get a lot of pediatric patients at all.

It is that time of the year for evaluations and I was called into the supervisor's office to do a little evaluating of me for the past year which I had just started working at this hospital. So I'm going through the Blah Blah Blah, your doing fine, Blah Blah Blah, what can you improve on, etc etc and this comes out.

Supervisor - "A RN wrote you up some months ago about not feeling comfortable with you as the RT of a peds patient, but was comfortable with your other night shift cohort."

Look on my face: WTF? I do remember this patient.

Me - "How so, I took great care of this patient."

Super - "Well this was a new nurse and she said that you didn't help her very much."

Me - "Help her with what, I did my RT stuff and the patient was in no distress."

Super - "She was just new and nervous and wished that your were more around to help her be comfortable with a respiratory peds patient."

Me - "Really? But isn't she a nurse who went through school? I'm not sure I understand what she was getting at, but I guess where I come from there are nurses who are pediatric nurses."


OK so after chatting a little while it basically came down to the supervisor, who is also the floor's supervisor, letting me know she want's us more involved in the care of peds patients with respiratory problems. Just help our more because the RN's don't get a lot of peds patients and get a little nervous around them.

Correct me if I'm wrong but do we not get the same amount of respiratory peds patients as the RN's do as inpatients? Granted I probably have more experience that most of the nurses on that floor with peds but still, what more can I do besides educate those RN's who are not comfortable with respiratory issues, I will not sit there and hold their hand. I guess I just don't quite get it.

Once again another added responsibility of what the RT can do is added to the list, the PediaRTritian is born. Tonight it also just so happens that there is a peds patient on the floor for us to see and besides just doing my nebs and RT stuff, I am stopping down about every 2 hours to check with the RN to see how she thinks the baby is doing, what else can I do. This just frustrated me a bit that I was told that a nurse wasn't comfortable with me and now we are wanted to be MORE involved with peds patients, but I am not going out of my scope of practice.

Now that RN who wrote me up, well she quit soon after that because that peds patient stressed her out to much and took a job at a clinic where she doesn't deal with peds patient. Now was it me or just a new RN freaking out a little to much and not being comfortable with her own training. I've also been informed that there are RN's here who flat our refuse to take peds patients even to the point of calling off work if there is that possiblity. Amazing.


Pretty soon RT's will run the hospitals.

Keep it up RT's and drive on.