The winter whitewash is leaving us here in Missouri, and spring rains are starting to fall. Many welcome the change (along with the change on the clock), but for a few, a harrowing season is just getting started: Allergy season. Allergy season is such an issue for so many that websites have been set up to help those dealing with it. Sites like ...

As the New Year comes, let's take a moment to reflect on last year. So many people lost, so many opportunities missed. Let's all make a decision now to have a better 2013. Managers, make sure your employees know they are appreciated. Respiratory Care Week is not enough; if you want to keep employees motivated and retained, you have to ...

We have spent the last couple of months discussing jobs, licensure and work-life balance. This month, particularly for all you who are new to the field, I thought we could discuss some organizations you can join to help further your career. Our professional organization is the American Association for Respiratory Care, or AARC. The AARC ...

For the past several weeks, we have discussed work-life balance. The final entry to this discussion is what you can do within respiratory therapy to add to your balance. We all know we should be members of our professional group and the state society that is associated with it wherever we live. Though some feel these groups do not represent them, ...

For a couple of weeks we have talked about licensure and burnout. Let's focus on some things to avoid the burnout and help us through the licensure trials. Some may question why I write about such things, but being a well-rounded therapist means you have to look at life from all angles, not just from inside the hospital walls. A respiratory ...

Since we spent last month discussing the trials and tribulations of licenses, let's spend some time talking about work/life balance. It's easy to get burned out. We work, and we usually want to work more. This is great, but it can lead to premature burnout. We all know the burnouts; they usually have done great things throughout their careers ...

 I am neurotic when it comes to collecting CEU credits. In the 13 months that I have been licensed, I have accrued 503 Continuing Education Hours. As I sit here at the Suncoast Pulmonary Symposium in Ft. Myers, I feel as though I must follow up on a post that I made last year. I had posted a blog expressing concern that the AARC was ...

After my last blog on why we need one standard for the respiratory profession's future sparked such debate, I wanted to touch on another hot topic: What are your thoughts on ACLS, PALS, and NRP? I am very curious to see if we can continue to explore this divide that exists in our community. As I stated in my last blog, I 100 percent disagree ...

Being a dedicated member of the AARC, I find myself logging in to AARConnect on a near daily basis. While last year I was a member of every single specialty section, when I renewed this year I cut it down to just the Education, Management, and Adult Acute Care sections. These three sections keep me busy and address most things that I have ...

In the past month we have had three or four bad babies at our facility. These patients have required intensive resuscitation after birth. As previously discussed, I felt totally blindsided by this whole new group of ''unknown unknowns'' that I had encountered. Even though I graduated with the NRP and PALS credentials, nothing prepares ...