Driving with Mirrors
Good drivers know how to use their mirrors. They use them to back up.They check them frequently for other cars and pedestrians in their blind spots and the look at them often to see what's going on around them.
Respiratory therapy should do the same thing.
We have come a long way. Some changes over the years are great. Some are not. While we now work with a fairly competitive pay scale, we lack basic respect from other departments in the hospital.
Our failure to secure our niche has allowed physical and occupational therapists to overtake us. Nurses are happy to build their schedules around these two areas. But when was the last time a nurse held up an IV or an aide held up a bath so you could give your breathing treatment?
Reimbursement for our profession is horrible. We've had two bills, S343 and HR1077, stuck in the finance committee on Capitol Hill for a long time.
Respiratory therapists are like fire extinguishers. We're pretty much forgotten until inspection time or an emergency. We don't have catchy commercials on TV. There are no respiratory people featured in any magazine I know of outside of our own trade magazines.
I've never heard a respiratory therapist talking on the radio, even though we deal with some of the most plentiful and deadly diseases in the world. It's always been this way.
That's in the mirror reflecting the past. Look there once in a while.
Then look out your front windshield and see what you can change. Get on a radio station. Ask local news to feature your department. With Respiratory Care Week coming, now is a great time to focus on the road ahead, never forgetting the road you are leaving behind you.
That's just my opinion,