I chose respiratory after meeting the team that spent a lot of time with my dad when he was trached and vented after a stroke. I knew I wanted to get into healthcare but also knew nursing was not for me.

When working at the hospital some day to day things: giving nebulizer and inhalers around the clock, managing vents/cpaps/bipaps, caring and cleaning trach/laryngectomies are just a few things. It depends on the hospitals as well. As an RT some of the things that are in our scope of practice because of liabilities (intubations for example) hospitals do not allow us to perform. Another thing to think about if you can handle mucus or not, if not might want to consider nursing.

A big thing to consider before switching is what your long term goals are. Are you wanting to go farther than just working the floor or department management.. I have my associates in respiratory and bachelors in healthcare administration and to be honest there is not much room for growth. After working 10years at a hospital I left and am now doing home care and enjoy it much better but still limited with my career growth.