halfway home

well, I had my final checkoff this morning. I also found out that I made an 85 on my final exam. That puts me at a solid "C" for all of my classes. Not the greatest, not the worst, but a solid passing grade. I do have to repeat a few things on the checkoff as do everyone in my class. Mine are pretty simple. I had the teacher exhale into an Incentive Spirometer (when she should've inhaled), forgot to pull out the syringe for the ABG so the blood could fill it up, didn't keep my sterile glove sterile in the nasotracheal suctioning section, and forgot some of the 11 criteria for extubation. Thats ok though, I'll be at the school with my classmates tomorrow and repeat the checkoff on Monday. Then I have a week off before returning for the summer.

Clinicals this week

What a week. It was my last week of clinicals this semester and it was something else. Apparently, RT's must go to all C-sections because the babies have a tendency to come out not breathing. You guessed it. Yours truly got to go to a C-section. My first time ever at a childbirth. It was amazing and it was messy. The baby came out screaming though which is a sure sign of breathing and also of the RT's not needed.


We also did our EKG labs today. That was kind of interesting. people seem to forget that that is the responsibility of RT's even though nurses and nursing assistants perform that duty at most hospitals. Of course I was the guinea pig for the the whole class. I was the one that the teacher demonstrated on. Not a bad day. Now I'm preparing for my EKG test friday. Then final checkoffs and final checkoffs and exams. Then my week and a half break before summer starts.

Whats going on here

It's been a busy week or two for me and thats why I haven't been here. I hope you enjoyed the Airway management videos. Anyway, I made my very first 100 on a test in the program last week. It was the test on intubation, oropharyngeal airways, and tracheostomy tubes. Pretty important stuff if you ask me. Needless to say I was stoked. This week, I have 2 tests and a quiz (yuck) including a Math test in Anatomy today. Thats right, Math. Apparently Oxygen Transport is completely known by doing Math and memorixing formulas.


Yesterday I had my first day at a Hospital I was unfamiliar with. It was also the smallest Hospital I've been to yet. The teacher wasn't there and we were paired up 1 to 1 with a RT for the first time. I got to see how it really works with breathing treatments in the real world. No staying with the patient for the entire treatment. It was kind of cool to run several treatments at once. My best friend started his rT career at this hospital and I can honestly picture myself doing the same. The only bad thing is it's almost an hours drive away. The director practically invited me there to work as a student when I start year 2. We'll see.


Also, the RT student blogger who inspired me to do this mentioned me in his blog post "Respiratory Therapy Bloggers". I did borrow off of his domain name for this one. I never meant it as a source of confusion. Much like me (and probably any other RT student) he doesn't have a lot of time to post. When he does though, his posts are very informative. Hopefully mine will be too.

Airway Management videos

Since we are going over the Airway management section I thought I would search for some videos online. Here are a couple of really neat videos. The first one is almost 13 minutes long (just thought I would warn you)

A much needed Spring Break

Thats right, here I am on Spring break. We had a test today on lung expansion and blood gases. Kind of a refresher test because some of us haven't been doing so great. Anyway, I have a week off before I go back to work and school. When I go back I'll have an anatomy test and respiratory quiz on the first 2 days. I've made my index cards for the quiz and will start studying for it and the test. Now, I just need to get down to the much needed task of drinking some beer and watching the tarheels play

Whats an RT student

I am a blogger and you may have read my other blog. I'll tell you about that later. Anyway, I am also a Respiratory Therapy student too. I am in my second semester, and my first one doing clinicals. I have been meaning to shut down my other blog because I don't have the time to keep it up. I wanted to keep my thoughts out there and keep my readers informed about my life. Since being an RT student is the biggest thing in my life, I thought that's what I would dedicate my blog to. Glad to have you here.