Paging McRespiratory
My coworker and I were talking about a medical TV drama we both had watched a few nights ago. In one scene when poo was hitting the proverbial fan one of the Docs told the nurse to "page respiratory stat!" No respiratory therapist was ever shown or identified to be a respiratory therapist, but we were thrilled nonetheless that respiratory was even mentioned...and this got me thinking...
Why is our profession so underrepresented in medical pop culture? Why do we exist only in over head pages? In nearly every medical drama or comedy there is a doctor, a nurse, an administration character and, in the case of my all-time favorite hospital-based television show, a custodian. But never do you see a respiratory therapist.
So why is this? I have two theories:
Theory One: The RT character would be so cool that he or she would make McDreamy look like Urkel, thus throwing forever the pop culture character paradigm into such a tailspin that all shows would have to have a respiratory therapist as a main character in order to garner any viewership or they would be subsequently canceled due to utter lack of interest. As a result, pop culture would become saturated with all things Respiratory (like the Australian invasion of the late 80's). You'd have "You Can't Spell Party Without RT" shirts (trademark pending), RT action figures equipped with working IPV and scaled to size intubation kits; Broadway plays such as Wake Me Up Before You Blow Blow: The Spirometry Story, song tributes like Smells Like Mucomyst, and feature films like Deep Breathe and Cough. Could Hollywood be aware of the consequences of opening this Pandora's Box and instead be keeping our awesomeness in the background for fear of a pop culture shift of epic proportions?
Or...
Theory 2: Is it possible the AARC and other respiratory organizations do such a poor job of pushing, promoting and representing our profession in the medical community in general that when Hollywood comes to do "research" on typical hospital day-to-day operations, respiratory therapists are shown to be little more than an afterthought and are not worthy of mainstream mention?
For the sake of our profession I hope it's #1...