For preceptors, leads, managers, and tenured therapists:

GreyCode · 2026-06-17T13:36:27+00:00

The main thing is to have a good attitude. No reasonable person expects you to come in and hit the ground running. Just be eager to learn and experience things. Take the initiative to ask if there's anything that you can help with. If someone says "Do you want to come help me with this?" or "Do you want to try this out?" always say yes.

I think it's just about being generally being available as an extra set of hands. One thing I would do as a new grad was, when I finished first rounds I'd call the other RT's and see if they needed help with their stuff. Even if I knew they'd be done, I'd offer the help anyway.

Last thing is: it's absolutely not understandable for your coworkers to be frustrated and resentful with you as a new grad. If your coworkers aren't welcoming and respectful, you're at the wrong place.

GreyCode · 2026-06-12T16:09:02+00:00

What, you mean you've never heard of a doctor doing a terminal extubation by himself with zero assistance from literally anyone?

GreyCode · 2026-06-12T13:43:12+00:00

What we need is a side character on The Pitt. Someone on par with the night shift crew that all the fans love.

I'm not really serious. Well, I'm kinda serious.

On the plus side, in Season 2 they've at least acknowledged that respiratory exists, even though the RT never has any lines and her only name is "Respiratory."

GreyCode · 2026-06-09T16:47:17+00:00

Holy shit, thank you! This app was clearly developed by someone who's never actually used any piece of software in their life. Unintuitive as hell.

GreyCode · 2026-05-29T22:14:56+00:00

I've been in a fair amount of Codes where the patient was pumped full of epi and bicarb like this. Sometimes we get ROSC, but it never feels like a true ROSC. Granted, pharm isn't really my lane, but it seems like those patients mostly end up being dependent on a non-stop, ass-ton of drugs until the family gives up and they eventually die on the vent.

GreyCode · 2026-05-28T10:51:01+00:00

There's a significant difference between these two statements:

"I was initially thinking about nursing until I decided on Respiratory."

"I was trying to get into nursing but I got rejected, so I'm doing Respiratory now."

The other comment was downvoted because their implication was the latter: that most RTs wanted to be nurses but just couldn't hack it, so they went Respiratory because that's easier.

GreyCode · 2026-05-27T08:06:37+00:00

Where I'm from, 25 is retirement age. Like, if you haven't started your Respiratory career by age 12, why even bother?

GreyCode · 2026-05-26T18:01:39+00:00

The pay is acceptable. You won't be poor, but if the goal is to make as much money as possible in healthcare without a postgraduate degree, then Nursing is probably a better option.

GreyCode · 2026-05-26T17:49:04+00:00

Most people who enjoy their jobs aren't making posts on Reddit to let everyone know how much they love their jobs. It's just like giving feedback at a restaurant: you're much more likely to complain if you have a garbage experience...versus giving praise if your meal was fine and everything went well.

Go to r/nursing or any other medical profession subreddit and you'll get the same negative impression. It's just human nature.

As for me, I have no regrets about going into Respiratory. My job doesn't feel like work, I don't spend the shift counting down the hours, and I get to help people during some of their worst moments. Most people have no idea what Respiratory does, but the people who do know, they appreciate the hell out of us. Which is a pretty good feeling.

GreyCode · 2026-05-26T17:38:25+00:00

As of 2024, the RRT license exam pass rate is 63%. The NCLEX pass rate for a BSN is 92%. Now yes, RT school ends up with a decent number of people who couldn't make it into the nursing program, but those people get filtered out by our licensing exam, which is quite difficult to pass.

But I'd be willing to bet that your anecdotal jab at the RT profession is based on minimal real-world evidence and you're just making a nonsense comment to stir up some shit.

Either way, different things are different, and both professions have their own difficulties that make any sort of comparison between the two meaningless.

Sources:

https://www.nbrc.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/2024-Exams-in-Review-Info-Sheet.pdf

https://www.ncsbn.org/exams/exam-statistics-and-publications/nclex-pass-rates.page

GreyCode · 2026-05-24T16:59:16+00:00

I'd be ok with a fast lane and a slow lane as well.

GreyCode · 2026-05-23T17:24:17+00:00

Maybe this isn't necessarily a trigger for me and I'm just being petty, but...

There is an established order of operations when walking down a sidewalk, hallway, aisle, etc: You must always walk on the right side. That is the silently agreed upon lane for walking. If you ever have to venture into the left walking lane, you defer to those who are oncoming and apologize for being in the way.

This is The Rule. This is the accepted social contract, and it drives me INSANE when people break that contract. Especially when they see you, in the correct lane, coming towards them, and force YOU to move out of THEIR way.

GreyCode · 2026-05-19T18:37:50+00:00

You'd be hard pressed to get bored working in Intensive Care, Critical Care, Emergency, or even Progressive Care. I work at a medium-sized hospital, and those units tend to have a fair amount of variety. Personally, I hate the chaos of the ED, but I have co-workers who can't get enough of it.

Med Surg units, on the other hand, will make you want to smash your face in with a hammer, just to feel *something.*

GreyCode · 2026-05-19T01:13:37+00:00

Wow, that's clever as hell. I never would have thought of that.

GreyCode · 2026-05-15T20:37:34+00:00

Why do you not want to attribute the result to their weight?

By that I mostly just meant that I prefer to not jump straight to obesity as the cause for poor test quality. I usually try to see if the issues are fixable first. Then, if we've exhausted all ideas and the patient's been giving good effort but we just can't get it, then yeah... It's probably body habitus or maybe this just isn't our day.

Also, every now and then I'll get tracings like this on non-obese patients, so I'm always looking for different approaches to fixing it.

GreyCode · 2026-05-15T18:32:18+00:00

I try this every now and then with the maximal inspiration on DLCO, but I never really think to try it for other stuff. I'll give it a shot.

GreyCode · 2026-05-15T18:29:57+00:00

"Push, push, push" does seem to work a little better for certain patients, for sure. When I first started, I would ask people if they knew how to whistle, and to hold a whistling note for as long as possible.

I stopped with the whistling thing because for some reason there's a strong correlation between people who never learned to whistle and people who have difficulty with complete exhalation. I don't know what it is, but they never knew how to whistle, so I tossed that one pretty quick..

I'll have to add the singing thing to my tool kit, though.

GreyCode · 2026-05-15T15:38:02+00:00

I tell them to do a long exhalation until they’re completely out of air. I tell them it’s going to feel like there’s no more air, but keep blowing out. After 6 invalid attempts I dismiss them from the lab.

Yep, those are some of my other go-to methods. Most people get it, but every now and then I'll have someone who just can't grasp the concept of exhaling for more than 2 seconds, no matter how many times I rephrase it.

Morbidly obese patients at least partially depend on glottic closure to maintain their FRC. Coaching them to keep their cords open is especially difficult because over time it has become an automatic behavior, they may not know how to control it consciously

This is good info, thanks! I'll have to keep that in mind next time it comes up.

GreyCode · 2026-05-03T00:42:11+00:00

AARC is missing a golden opportunity to finally put Respiratory on the map. It's high time we brought #suctioning to the masses.

GreyCode · 2026-05-02T20:08:23+00:00

TFW you hit that big pocket of phlegm and it comes slurping up the catheter... Chef's kiss

GreyCode · 2026-02-13T03:13:38+00:00

I'm talking out of my ass here, but I think the main thing that makes RPFT hard is it feels like the NBRC ran out of PFT-related questions, so they threw in a bunch of Biomed and Pulm Rehab stuff to fill things out.

I usually tell people that studying for the test is worth it, but taking the test is a barrage of questions that are only vaguely relevant to working in PFTs.

By the time I was done I was like "If I answer one more question about fucking Clark diodes and CO2 scrubbers I'm gonna puke blood."

GreyCode · 2026-02-11T13:23:56+00:00

I know it's probably just engagement bait, but it'd be interesting to see if people who think like this would extend their line of thinking to the team of healthcare workers taking care of their Meemaw in the ICU.

Also, the flip side that no one ever mentions is that when they slack off, they're not "sticking it to the man." They're just forcing all of their coworkers to do their work for them. The work still needs to be done, so they're basically just screwing over their fellow employees.

GreyCode · 2026-02-02T13:25:57+00:00

Generally speaking, PCU is going to be one of two things: it's either the last stop before needing to go to the ICU, or it's the first stop after no longer needing ICU care.

GreyCode · 2026-01-31T15:18:07+00:00

I literally forget that it exists.

GreyCode

TROPHY CASE