What should I do?
February 262010
I am currently in college studying Respiratory Therapy and I just don’t think it’s really for me. It’s a really hard program, much harder than it needs to be due to the instructor (who is also the program chair) having an superiority complex! I hate her!!! I just really also don’t know if I want to be dealing with phlegm, snot, and mucus for the rest of my life. I know the salary is good but I also want to be happy. So here are my choices: Physical Therapy assistant, Rad Tech, Radiation Therapy, RN, or Therapeutic massage. Or should I just stick it out with Respiratory Therapist?? If you have any info on any of these occupations and what they pay, I would really like to hear it please. Thanks
Okay maybe not so much an RN because I read they have to go to school for a long time and deal with blood and gross stuff.
I am a Respiratory Therapist of 4 years and it does get easier. Before I graduated my teacher told me to my dismay that I would be a "bad" therapist. After a couple of years and after becoming a Registered respiratory therapist and a couple of other advanced certifications I realized that my teacher was just trying to motivate me. In RT school some teachers try to break you down to see how you do under pressure. I used my teachers negative comments as a motiviation to prove him wrong.
Trust me, Respiratory is a great field, but is not easy or for the weak minded. Whats great about RT is the atonomy, you are not constiantly at the bed side like nursing. Your like a clinical consultant. The secretion thing will get easier in time. The hardest period in my respiratory carrer was while in school. They intentionally make it hard in school because you don’t use half of the information once you get out. Trust me, stick with it, it will get easier once you graduate.
February 26th, 2010 at 1:54 pm
I would first go with your gut instinct to not continue in that program if you are uncomfortable with not only the head of the department and instructor, but also with the bodily secretions (as with nursing) that one must deal with as a RT. A radiation therapist may also need to deal with those that are physically ill from chemo so please keep that in mind. A physical therapist assistant can be quite a physical as well as emotionally draining job though perhaps it is for you. One needs to have taken physics as a prereq course among others and to eventually earn an associate’s degree in pta and complete clinical fieldwork with actual patients receiving physical therapy to work as a pta. Please don’t just go where the money is though
They say ‘if you love what you do, you’ll never have to work a day in your life’.
For career info: http://www.bls.gov/oco and search ‘physical therapist assistant’ or such.
For US colleges: http://www.utexas.edu/world/univ
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February 26th, 2010 at 2:22 pm
well any of those feilds would be great for you. Personaly I would chose physical thereapy or therapeautic massage.. Both are rewarding careers and i do know that there is quite a demand plus pay is really good
Any career you chose I am sure you would be happy with and best of luck
References :
February 26th, 2010 at 2:56 pm
I am a Respiratory Therapist of 4 years and it does get easier. Before I graduated my teacher told me to my dismay that I would be a "bad" therapist. After a couple of years and after becoming a Registered respiratory therapist and a couple of other advanced certifications I realized that my teacher was just trying to motivate me. In RT school some teachers try to break you down to see how you do under pressure. I used my teachers negative comments as a motiviation to prove him wrong.
Trust me, Respiratory is a great field, but is not easy or for the weak minded. Whats great about RT is the atonomy, you are not constiantly at the bed side like nursing. Your like a clinical consultant. The secretion thing will get easier in time. The hardest period in my respiratory carrer was while in school. They intentionally make it hard in school because you don’t use half of the information once you get out. Trust me, stick with it, it will get easier once you graduate.
References :