BETT and Staffing - RT Student Talk

I got your back!

A.Walton — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 12:59:00 +0000

Hey RCP students you all have to learn the same information and you all have to pass the same board exam. You should really consider forming study groups and diving right in.

Quiz each other and teach each other and help each other. Tell your fellow student “I got your back” and dive right in.
Leave a comment on this post if you are interested in starting a study group.

“Fastest draw” in the west

A.Walton — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 12:26:11 +0000

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.

Clinical setting vs Didactic setting

A.Walton — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 11:08:16 +0000

Theory, practice and practice due to theory... huh? Healthcare can ofter seem to have more than one school of thought. The physicians in your facilities are brilliant and they have seen so much and have tried all theories. Trust that they follow a system that works. It has been proven to work from patient to patient. They have seen it time and time again.

We as a team follow our leader the physician because of his/her extensive knowledge and practice. Every now and then though, we are all “stumped” by that one patient. The patient that does not give us that expected outcome. We rule out and we rule out and then it is back to the books for all.

Personalities

A.Walton — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 09:37:54 +0000

Can’t we all just get along? ...ahh, no.

Hey human race, welcome to healthcare. We all know that there are people we just dont mesh well with. Well guess what, too bad. For the sake of the patient do not ever forget why you are there. You are a vital part of a very important team. Yes, a team. And in that team you are the specialist of the airway.

Do your job and help with anything and everything else that you can help with. Forget who is barking orders at you or who isn’t moving fast enough or too fast. Remember that you are there for the patient and make it work. Make it work guys! It is not personal, it’s a life. We all react differently and to expect everyone on the team to be just like you is insane. Work with the team you’ve got, after all it is all you’ve got.

Learn your specialty, know you’re specialty. Be that important oh so vital part of that team.

The Chest X-ray

A.Walton — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 10:11:53 +0000

Develop your own approach to interpreting an x-ray. You can start the process from chest cavity to outside chest cavity. Or from top to bottom or develope an accronym that will help guide you through every part of the chest x-ray.

The approach you develop should guarantee that you don’t get drawn to something that looks odd and forget to review the x-ray thoughroughly. Stick to your approach every time. If you follow same process each time you will uncover all noteworthy abnormanlities and not just those jumping off the film.

Look through pictures of x-rays at link below or in your Egan textbook for practice.

http://www.meddean.luc.edu/lumen/MedEd/medicine/pulmonar/cxr/atlas/cxratlas_f.htm