Choosing a Career in Respiratory Therapy: A Personal Journey

Ms. Paula Weston English 101-57 30 October 2012 In the World of Respiratory Therapy When you graduate high school most of us look forward to going to college and starting a new chapter in our lives. There are many choices of fields to choose from when we enter college. Some of us know right from the start what we want to do and some of us don’t. I have had many ideas of what I might want to pick as my career for the rest of my life. It first started out with wanting to be a teacher, and then it changed to a veterinary technician, and finally with lots of thought and research I have decided I want to be a Respiratory Therapist.

I have struggled through many years trying to find the perfect career I wanted to do for the rest of my life. I knew I wanted to do a career in the health care field because I knew it would always be a field that would be around and always in demand. When interviewing Dennis Brown, a Registered Respiratory Therapist, he stated, “I had always been interested in the medical profession, and the coursework provided me with the flexibility to choose another medical profession if I found respiratory care was not what I believed it to be. (Brown). It hadn’t occurred to me until I was talking with Brown that I could use my background and degree to go into other medical fields if I felt the respiratory field wasn’t the one for me. One reason I have chosen this field is I have always wanted to work with children. I love being around children they are so innocent and have no worries and are always happy go lucky, most of the time. In my research I have found that I could work in the neonatal and pediatric care.

I would love to help out a child in need and try to my best to help them get better in any way that I could and it would give me a lot of satisfaction and being able to do that every day would all be worth it. Another reason for choosing this field is I could get a job anywhere I go. If I chose to stay in Michigan there are many good hospitals in the area to work at, and even if I chose to move out of state this is the kind of career that I could take with me and I would expect to find a job easier than other careers that are only limited to certain areas.

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When researching this career I have always wondered if I there were any risks or downfalls to this career path. Of course like any other career there are always good and bad thing to the job. One main thing that has stuck in my mind when researching is health risks to Respiratory Therapist from exposures on the job. “Respiratory therapists (RTs), through their involvement in the diagnosis, treatment, and care of patients with respiratory and cardiopulmonary disorders, can potentially be exposed to a variety of agents that could impact occupational health.

Respiratory hazards that may be encountered in the work environment include aerosolized agents and chemical sensitizers such as glutaraldehyde, which is used to disinfect bronchoscopes. Although there are many types of aerosolized substances, concerns have been found no significant dose-response effect on lung function, although there were increased symptom complaints (ie, chest tightness and shortness of breath) in some of the nurses. (abc) This information has opened my eyes to many things that could happen on any job when exposed to different chemicals. This research has not stopped me from pursuing my career in Respiratory Therapy though. I have just started my journey into getting my degree in the Respiratory Therapy program and so far the courses are easy, but I know the farther I am in the program the harder it will get. There are many positives to way I am choosing this career path and also there are some negatives just like in any other career.

I think the satisfaction of being able to help other people will overlook the fact that there might be a chance of risks within my career choice. I plan to stick through my goal of becoming a Respiratory Therapist and push through and struggles that might come along the way to achieve this goal. Work Cited Brown, Dennis. Personal Interview. 25 October 2012 Dimich-Ward, Helen, PhD; Michelle Lee Wymer, BSc; and Moira Chan-Yeung, MB. “Respiratory Health Survey of Respiratory Therapists” CHEST; Oct2004, Vol. 126 Issue 4, p1048-1053, 6p.

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