As RCPs we have some slow work days with plenty of time to talk with our patients and think about our orders and look through the medical record.
And then there are the fast paced, your patient is checking out now and what are you going to do about it, crazy kind of days. On those days you either know what you are doing or just get out of the way. The airway is our responsibility. Knowing how to set up for intubation, how to handle an ambu bag, set up suction, when to use CO2 detector, etc, all that should be learned and memorized and practiced and in your head. This way when you are the one next to that physician in an emergency setting you can be Mr. Fast draw. “Mac 4 blade” the Doctor says... and “bam! there you are”, “tube”, “bam! there you are and so on and so on.

Open your lab text to Intubation chapter along with your Egan’s text. Both have photos and diagrams of all your equipment. Pay attention at every code blue.

You have to memorize some stuff guys. This whole respiratory thing is a lot of information. Commit as much as you can to memory. Learn as many of the concepts as you can. All our drugs and names for each and every piece of equipment and size of tube to use and where it should be taped, all that stuff has to be memorized. You are students now, if you are not bothering to do this now then when.

Your brain needs to be full of RT facts. All this information should be there ready for the “draw”.

What, a physician stops you as he writes an order and asks you what the dose for atrovent is? No problem, you without hesitation say “0.5mg doc and make that Q6 please”. Fastest draw in the west. Why… because you took the time to get all that information in your head. You quized yourself, you had others quiz you, you figured out how it is that you learn and retain knowledge and you used that method to get it all in there. Your instructors can teach and teach til they are sick of repeating themselves but if you don’t figure out how you can make yourself retain all that you read and hear it will do you no good. Get to know yourself and make sure you are forever memorizing and learning Respiratory. After all it is you that decided you wanted to do this as a career.