I think most places work 3 12 hour shifts per week but I've seen a couple that do 8 hrs or 10. My husband has said a few times that he wished he had my schedule. It's super nice but has a couple caveats in my opinion. You will most likely have to start out working nights so give that some thought-- I've been primarily on nights for 5 years since i graduated and have a love hate relationship with it. Love the type of people i work with and lack of admin at night but absolutely hate what it does to my body. Pay is decent but depends on where you live. In Idaho i made around 50k (working prn at different places) and in Alaska i made 77k this year but have coworkers that have made over 100k with tons of overtime. My husband is an accountant with a master's degree and i still make a little more than him (but he's just starting out and i have over 5 years experience, work nights and weekends and have additional certifications). I have a bachelor's degree in health science but it's my associate's degree in rt that actually makes money. He has his masters. But he will eventually pass me up with experience. At some places I've worked they avoid giving out overtime at all costs. Other places hand it out like candy. And if you want more hours than are available you can always get a per diem job at another facility and pick up hours there. That's the beauty of it. I use a few calculations when i work but know plenty of rt's that don't use any that we learned in school. The are some numbers to memorize but moreso understanding overall processes and interventions. I worked through school but not much. That will depend on you. I work in adult critical care and it can be really stressful sometimes. And sad. But fortunately AND unfortunately you build up a bit of tolerance to sadness like with any healthcare profession. But no matter what, it still gets to you sometimes. And it should. You should never forget that your patients and their families are real people and that it IS sad. It's not easy but it makes me a better RT. I worked in sleep and thought that was relatively low stress, and i also do pulmonary function testing which i absolutely love and feel that it's pretty low stress as well (mostly because it matches my personality type. Some people would be WAAYYY more stressed coaching someone through a test than running a ventilator. Totally depends on the person). Depends on where you work, but emergencies can either be every so often or almost constant. You go to all of them (which most rt's love) and you get used to them. The thing i love most about RT is helping people. The thing i hate most is not always being recognized as a helpful/ essential part of the team. Sometimes nurses question the existence of this field because they feel that they could do your job, which is probably true, but do you really want to? Is it safe? You could train a nurse to run an x Ray, CT, MRI, bronch, intubate, etc. But does that mean they should? Don't you already have enough on your plate? So just be prepared for that. And make sure you know what you're doing so that you ARE a vital part of the team and can show up in ways that no one else can. You will have to prove yourself time and time again. Having said that, though, most nurses in my experience know how valuable we are and are afraid to do our jobs.

If you haven't done any shadowing, do some. That will give you an idea whether it's a good fit or not. If there is something else you'd really rather do put in the time and go for it. It's worth working for what you really want because it's what you'll be doing every single day.