tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1718168170536921414.post4852056936481881858..comments2023-11-02T03:55:48.410-05:00Comments on Respiratory Therapy Driven: What we see, not everyone does.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01763856556153355491noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1718168170536921414.post-45595124092399447482019-07-20T18:59:45.147-05:002019-07-20T18:59:45.147-05:00I have recently retired from the respiratory thera...I have recently retired from the respiratory therapy profession, but the haunting memories of 42 years of death did not retire they follow me everywhere I go. Most of my early years were spent in New born and pediatric ICU's and you can imagine what I saw and had to do. The stress in those environment were incredible and immeasurable. The last 12 years were spent at a VA facility caring for young guys (40-50) drinking,smoking and drugging themselves to death. Decades of death, dying and disease is not good and it has left me broken. But nobody cares, nobody has ever asked if I was alright, they just expected me to move on to the next disaster like the last one never occurred. I must pretend even now that everything is alright.<br />Thanks for listening Uggdathughttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01920663592378136711noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1718168170536921414.post-56642974511193013462008-07-02T23:03:00.000-05:002008-07-02T23:03:00.000-05:00I'd have to agree that RTs see more death than mos...I'd have to agree that RTs see more death than most. There was a point in time where all I did was termanially extubate. They called me the angel of death...which I hated. Every person who I touch that ends up dying affects me. <BR/><BR/>I'd also like to say that because we see so much death and trying to die, we are much better assessors than others in healthcare. <BR/><BR/>I once was paged for a breath treatment by a new grad RN for a patient who was in the middle of an MI, he was clutching his chest, stateing couldn't breath (her clue that he was only SOB), and was having ST elevation changes on the monitor. I walked into the room and called a code immediately. I was horrified by her inability to recognize the signs....I truly believe because we are thrown into the ICU's so quickly it makes us better at assessing....all new grad RN's should do at least 6 months in the ICU.Yo mama!https://www.blogger.com/profile/00949042100993878709noreply@blogger.com