One for the record books...

Panic values recently seen on an ABG:

PaCO2: 102 mmHg (Normal range 35-45)
pH: 7.215 (Normal range 7.35-7.45)

These values are AFTER the patient has been on BiPAP 18/8, rate of 12 for about the past 9 hours.

On transfer to ICU, he was on 2L NC, SpO2 97%.



I kid you not. Alert and oriented x3. Transferred himself from the stretcher to the bed.

Why do I always have to take care of these SOBs?

I don't care if you are a respiratory therapist or not, this is just plain funny.

I've found that sometimes the professor lectures so fast that the only way to get the jest of it down in your notebook is to leave out non-important words. In this case, the word in is something I should have considered important.



For those of you who aren't medical types or haven't gotten this far in school, must know that SOB is also an acronym for "short of breath," or, "shortness of breath."

That's what I meant. Or did I?

Taking Steps to Cure Cystic Fibrosis

In the short since I started this blog, I've met a lot of interesting people via Twitter and throughout the blogosphere. I had no idea on that day back in July when I received my acceptance letter to Respiratory Therapy school and decided to create "Surviving RT School," both as a creative outlet and a place for me to stand on my soapbox about various issues that I would find so many people with similar interests, generally focused on the improvement of themselves through school and the advent of better patient care. I never knew that such a diverse group of people existed, all writing of different things, but really, united for a common cause-- the improvement of health through education and advances in patient care.

In reading a lot of RT-related blogs and websites, I've learned quite a bit about what it is like to live with chronic respiratory diseases, and most notably, I've met some excellent bloggers who are affected by some of the different diseases that fall under the category of COPD, or Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease.

I come across these blogs in different ways, but most often it occurs as discovering a blog on the blogroll of a blog I currently read. I share with you today, The Schellenberg's 3 A's. That is, Alli, Ashley, and Adoption. What's this have to do with Cystic Fibrosis? Well, Ashley is a brave little 3-year-old girl with Cystic Fibrosis. Needless to say, it has been a struggle for the entire family as they have watched young Ashley battle this illness for which there is no cure.

That's a picture from Ashley at Christmas time, and looking at her, you'd never know that she was victim to such a terrible disease, noted by incessant coughing, copious phlegm production, and frequent infections due to an inability to expectorate mucus and sputum.

Anyways, I mentioned that I usually come across these blogs by way of another blogger, and my good friend Marcus over at the RT Student Blog introduced me to this blog. The Schellenbergs' blog got him thinking about how difficult and trying this disease must be for the entire family, and I'm sure a number of families worldwide. Marcus has decided that he would like to help families like the Schellenbergs, and I'm totally for that. As a matter of fact, I think this is an excellent cause.

I can only imagine what it must be like for people affected by Cystic Fibrosis, as well as it what it is like for those closest to them. Marcus has decided that he is going to start a team for an event called Great Strides, which is sponsored by the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Great Strides has a wonderful tagline, "Taking steps to cure Cystic Fibrosis." Plan and simple, but such a noble cause. If you are in the Fayettville, NC area it would be great if you joined Marcus' Great Strides team and took a step toward a better tomorrow for those with CF. If you can't do this, that's fine.




You can still help. The team has a simple goal of seeking $500 in donations for this cause, and I know that this is possible. If you have a few minutes and a few dollars, I ask that you take time to help this cause.

Thanks to everyone in advance for their support in this organization and their contributions to the improvement of research for CF patients, so that those wonderful scientists and researchers may one day find a cure. If you're interested:

CLICK HERE TO DONATE

I appreciate you reading this far and showing an interest in this rare disease.

Quote of the day:

This one comes to us from a respiratory therapy instructor in another state that has recently contacted me via E-Mail regarding my blog.

On flight medicine and the respiratory therapist's role in the flight crew: "Flights rock! Nothing assesses or validates your skills or importance (knowledge) than a site drop with trauma." Damn right! That almost gives me an adrenaline rush just thinking about it.

Yeah, I'll be on that chopper one day. Trust me. Let's see, I probably need a Bachelor's in Respiratory (most likely a Master's), NREMT-P, ACLS, PALS, NRP, ATLS, a minimum of 3 years in ICU, and probably 2 in the NICU. I can so do that.



That is all.

How to Achieve Success in a Health Degree Program-- Part II/More About a Source of Inspiration

I wanted to be able to write some long and wonderful post about my first day back to RT school, the start of my second semester, and etc. However, the truth is, today wasn't all that interesting. To make a long story (or day) short, I sat in a classroom for about 8 hours learning all about HIPAA, various policies for clinicals, and the procedures for charting at the different clinical sites at which we will be doing rotations. As excited as I am about starting clinicals, today was far from exciting. We do clinicals two days a week, at a number of facilities, but my first day to actually provide patient care in the clinical setting is January 28th. I'm sure I'll have more to say about it then.

A while back, I wrote a simple but somewhat useful post titled, "How to Achieve Success in a Health Degree," my small contribution to the students out there on sharing what I have learned through my experiences in school. I intended for this to be a two-part post, but somewhere in the mix of family and slaving over textbooks for RT School, I never got around to part II.

* * * *

So, here it is. I give you...

How to Achieve Success in a Health Degree Program, Part II

Trust Yourself. It seems simple enough, right? Wait until you are at the bedside on your first day of clinicals (or later in the program) and your patient is crashing fast. And patients can and do crash FAST. You have a deep feeling that you know exactly what is wrong and exactly how to fix it. However, you start to doubt that what you think isn't the right thing to do. When you're holding someone's life in your hands, you are often busy thinking of "Plan B," the next move you make when your first plan has failed. That's right. Under the bright lights of trauma, things seem to happen so quickly, as they should. It is a very rare occasion that you will have time to sit back and look at the patient's chart, pondering what to do. Who to call. How to stabilize your patient. Protocols. What you can and cannot do.

You have to basically map out what you are going to do to maintain a patient's airway, and you have to know what to do if it doesn't work out as planned. Respiratory Therapy School (or whatever degree program you're attending) has been preparing you for this point. Remember all those hours spent in class and the countless hours you spent reading, studying, and re-reading, only to do it all over again for the next unit covered in class? Well, it comes in handy right about now.

You can't simply think you know what to do and the patient is magically stable enough to be transported to Intensive Care. You have to know. Trust yourself. Any amount of time that you spend doubting your skills and abilities are critical to this patient's health. If you cannot trust yourself and listen to your instincts, well, one could only imagine the most severe outcome. How long can someone sustain life with an O2 sat of 70% before they go into respiratory arrest? Minutes?

You may be, "Just a student," but that doesn't mean that you do not know how to handle a situation like this. It doesn't make you any less capable. It should not mean that you sit there questioning your instincts in a situation that you have only read about but never seen. That's why you read about it... To know how to handle it.

However, don't confuse trusting yourself with being overly confident. The latter can be most detrimental to the health of your patient. This is why you are a student, and this is what you are here to do: Learn. NEVER STOP LEARNING. This is what your clinical adjuncts are for, and this why you are assigned to work with a therapist. Which brings me to my next bit of advice:

Ask questions. I'm sure we've all heard this time and time again in our lives so far. Whatever it is, never be afraid to ask. Don't let anyone intimidate you, especially to the point where you don't want to ask them questions. If this occurs, seek out someone who has the answer. Or seek the answer on your time. The bottom line is, you don't ever want to be without an answer that is at your fingertips.

Even if it something you see that is so incredibly rare (which happens a lot in the medical field,) and you think you'll never see it again in your career, you'd much rather know the answer in case you run across a similar problem in the future . You'd want to know. Be proactive with your schooling, and know that you'll never learn everything you need to know. Even when you think you have learned it all, there is always room to learn more.

If you ask any respiratory therapist, or nurse, or doctor, what is the most dangerous thing a student, new grad, or even a seasoned health professional can do when they are unsure, I guarantee you the answer is something to the effect of, "Not asking questions." Think about it. If it was you or your loved one in the hospital, would you want to have someone caring for you that is unsure of a certain aspect of your care, but does not ask someone with the answer, or seek it out on their own? Absolutely not.

Do not become timid, but become the opposite of it. Keep asking until you have sought out the correct answer. Better yet, if it isn't an emergent situation, do your own research. This will help you remember the answer and feel proud that you found it for yourself. In combining the first part of this post with the second, the key to success in the clinical setting is this, "Trust yourself, but if you don't have the answers, seek them out."

And this, my friends, is how to achieve success in a health degree, in your career, in life. Good luck with the second semester, everyone!

* * * *

A Source of Inspiration is now hosted on Blog Carnival. You can check this page to view information about the carnival, what type of submissions will be included in the carnival post, and information on themes for upcoming editions. You can even find out who is hosting future editions.

There is also a page on Blog Carnival exclusively for submitting posts to A Source of Inspiration. You fill in a few simple blanks, and you post is on its way to me, or whoever happens to be the host of the next edition. I predict great things and only great things coming out of this carnival.

Let's work together to make this the Best of Respiratory Therapy on the Web, in One Simple Location.

Oh, did I mention that Blog Carnival has an RSS feed just for A Source of Inspiration carnival posts? Yeah, it's great. Click here to subscribe to the posts, no matter who hosts them.

As always, there is more to follow at a later date. Right now, I'm working with @staticnrg about getting some sidebar images that people can post on their blogs in support of the cause. The more posts, the more readers, the better the carnival. In the meantime, anyone interested in spreading the word is welcome to use any one of the six banners located in my Picasaweb Album to post on their blog(s).

Surviving RT School on Change of Shift

Hey guys,

The latest edition of Change of Shift is up over at crzegrl, flight nurse, which is rather quickly becoming one of my favorite blogs to read. As you all know, trauma is my true passion and I'm a bit (okay, more than a bit) addicted to it. What's better than trauma? Why, trauma at 10,000 feet above ground, zooming to the nearest hospital at around 150 MPH, of course.

I was happy to see that not only did Emily include a past post of mine in this edition of the blog carnival (click the link above to check it out), but she also mentioned A Source of Inspiration, my newest idea to increase respiratory therapists exposure in the blogosphere, several times.

I hope you'll check out Change of Shift, Volume 3 No. 14 when you get a chance and give some props to crzegrl.

New Things in 2009..."A Source of Inspiration"

I've found that one of the best ways to the ring in the New Year is with change. If you've noticed my lack of posts lately, it's because I'm planning something different for Surviving RT School this year.

And you know what they say about Texans; When we do it, we like to do it big. So, here it is:

I'm planning a blog carnival for Respiratory Bloggers: therapists, students, patients, and anyone who has anything pertaining to respiratory care, lung disease, breaking news for respiratory therapists and modern advances in equipment. Basically, anything that has do with respiratory therapy will be included in the carnival, regardless of who submits it.

Maybe I'm crazy. But stick with me here.

This could actually work. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the idea of a blog carnival, check out the most recent issues of two popular blog carnivals that I frequently read: Change of Shift and Grand Rounds.

Now that you have the general idea, let's talk about the name of our blog carnival (and yes, I call it ours, because it would be nothing without posts from all of you great bloggers out there). After some thought, I can't seem to think of a better name than:


Image credit: Thanks to Robin of Survive the Journey,also known as @staticnrg on Twitter for helping me create the logo.

Clever, no?

For those of you who aren't familiar with medical terminology commonly used by respiratory therapists, inspiration is, quite simply, the inhalation of air into the lungs. I chose this name because respiratory therapists are most often involved in the acute or critical care of patients with restrictive or obstructive airway disease, and most of what we do involves administering medications or performing procedures to aid in improving ventilation.

Of course, it's also has a double meaning, as inspiration is also, well, a sort of special influence on someone. With more and more people each year going to school to be respiratory therapists, I would like to think of us students and RCPs as sources of inspiration for potential students and even other RTs who would like to improve their standard of care.

I know, through my own person research before deciding to attend school for Respiratory Care Technology, that a lot of respiratory care practitioner's feel that they don't get the recognition they deserve as a crucial part of the patient's team of allied health professionals. I realize it's always been a struggle for respiratory therapists, because members of the general public often have no idea that respiratory therapy even exists as a profession, much less what we do and how we contribute to the health care model. Maybe you're even overworked and under appreciated (like all health professions)?

So, what better way to somewhat advance the profession, and network with other bloggers facing similar problems, than a blog carnival for all things respiratory? Think about it...

If A Source of Inspiration is a big hit like I'm most confident it will be, it will be read by doctors, nurses, other health professionals, students, people with lung disease, and the general public. With the influx of people using feed readers to keep up with recent posts, I doubt a single issue would go unread. If you are a respiratory therapist, RT student, or you blog about respiratory-related topics, this is your way to increase traffic to your blog and reach a wider audience.

All this sounds great, but you may be wondering what I get out of this and why I'm even willing to take such a leap. Well...

1. I'm totally, 100% addicted to blogging.

2. Even though I'm only a student, I'm absolutely 100% addicted to encouraging respiratory therapist bloggers, and bloggers who write about respiratory therapy.

3. I just really want to do this.



Have you made it this far? Good. You must be interested.

Here are the basic guidelines:

• A Source of Inspiration does not intend to compete with Grand Rounds or Change of Shift, thus:
• If you submit a post to an upcoming issue of Grand Rounds or Change of Shift, please submit a different post to A Source of Inspiration. If you really want your post included in A Source of Inspiration but have already sent it to Grand Rounds or Change of Shift for inclusion, I can include it in A Source of Inspiration, but only after that issue of CoS or Grand Rounds has been posted.
  
• Anyone is free to contribute to A Source of Inspiration:
• --Respiratory Therapists: You're out there in the blogosphere already. Send your latest post.
• --Doctors: What are your experiences with respiratory therapists at work? What are your experiences taking care of patients with asthma, COPD, bronchitis, pneumonia, CHF, etc.? Also, feel free to share your latest news and research related to respiratory diseases or DME (durable medical equipment) for respiratory home care patients. Medicare/Medicaid, whatever. As long as it is related to respiratory care.
• --Nurses: You see all kinds of patients, and COPD is the fourth leading killer of people in the United States. Share your experience with taking care of these patients. Maybe one has touched your heart or left behind a memory that is hard to shake. Talk about working with RTs, what they're like, etc.
  
• --Patients/General public: Perhaps you have spent your whole life living with a chronic lung disease or you have just been diagnosed with asthma or chronic bronchitis or... the list is endless. You've probably been in and out of hospitals your entire life, or maybe you recently had your first hospital stay for your illness. Reach out to other patients with similar problems. Or, if you're a member of the general public, and you find the respiratory system or healthcare blogs or new articles interesting, write up a post for submission. As long as it is related to respiratory care, I'll include it.
• Anyone is free to host A Source of Inspiration, and is definitely welcome to. Just email me at js0095001 [at] gmail [dot] com.
  

Whew! That's enough for now. If you have any questions or comments, just use the comment form below this post. All comments are welcome and definitely encouraged. A lot of factors at once are going to help this work, but your input tops the list. More to follow regarding where to send submissions, carnival post dates-- that is, if you guys are interested, and topics for future issues (the first few issues will be sort-of "Anything goes").

Last but not least, here is the call for submissions:
All submissions should be sent to js0095001 {at} gmail {dot} com no later than Thursday, February 12, 2009 at midnight CST. The first issue will be published on Surviving RT School Friday, February 13th, 2009 (cause I'm risky like that...lol). Future issues will be hosted on other blogs and I will create a page in my header with more information on upcoming editions.

In the email, include the following to be added to A Source of Inspiration:

1. The e-mail subject of, "A Source of Inspiration"
   
2. The title of your post
3. A direct link to the post (e.g., http://my-rt-life.blogspot.com/2008/12/posttitle.html, instead of http://my-rt-life.blogspot.com)
4. A short description of your post
5. How you wish to be listed on the issue (e.g., Jill, Anonymous Blogger, ER Nursey, etc.)
   

(Special thanks to Kim at Emergiblog for all her support and advice, Emily, of crzegrl, flight nurse, for proofing this post, and to Robin at Survive the Journey for help with the logo.)

Made the List, Somehow...

Over at Medical Student Blog, there is a growing list of Doctors, Medical Students, and Medicine-Related Bloggers-- links to their blog and their Twitter page.

Click here to check out the list. I'm near the bottom under "Student." I'm already subscribed to most of these blogs, but if you aren't, they make for a lot of good reading.

Amazing

Emily, over at crzegrl, flight nurse posted the following video she found:


wingsuit base jumping from Ali on Vimeo.

It's called Wingsuit Base Jumping, and I really have to try it one day. It looks so invigorating.

Who wants to go with me?

Not any time soon, of course. Apparently Wingsuit BASE jumping is a lot more complicated than BASE jumping. Considering I've never been BASE jumping and I don't really have any huge mountains in my back yard (or within a 400 mile radius of my house), I probably won't get to do it tomorrow. Lol)

My Second Semester

Well, it's a little over a week until I begin my second semester of RT School. It's hard to believe I have been on break for almost a month now, but like the RT student over at Free Speech is My Anti-Drug, I haven't known what to do with all of this free time and I feel pretty strange not having any stress at all. (Wow, I can't believe I said that.)

Next semester will be more difficult because I start clinicals and I will be doing that for 8 hours every Monday and Wednesday. The good news is that I only have two classes and a lab because I went ahead and took Advanced Cardiopulmonary A&P as an evening course this past semester (NOT recommended). Here's what my schedule will look like:

• RSPT 1360: Clinical I Resp. Care (Monday, Wednesday-- Times TBA)

• RSPT 1431: Respiratory Care Fundamentals II (Tuesday, Thursday 9:00am-10:20am)

• RSPT 2310: Cardiopulmonary Disease (Tuesday, Thursday 10:35am-11:55am)

• RSPTL 1431: Respiratory Care Fundamentals II Lab (Friday 1:00pm-5:00pm)

Total credit hours: 10.0


And last but not least, books! I used most of these books last semester, but here is what I will be losing sleep reading:

Mosby's Respiratory Care Equipment/ 7th Ed.
Cairo, Pilbeam



Egan's Fundamentals of Respiratory Care/ 9th Ed.
Wilkins, Et al.



Egan's Fundamentals of Respiratory Care Workbook/ 9th Ed.
Wiehrman



Practical Math for Respiratory Care: A Text and Workbook
Sibberson



Prentice Hall's Cardiopulmonary Drug Guide
Colbert, Mason



Respiratory Disease: A Case Study Approach to Patient Care (3/e)
Wilkins, Et al.



Clinical Practitioner's Pocket Guide to Respiratory Care
Oakes

So, good luck everyone!

Happy New Year!

Yes, I realize I'm a bit late with this post. Lol.

Like Glenna over at G's Spot, I'm pretty tied down with the work and family obligations right now, and I have been over the past few weeks. I just wanted to take the time to wish everyone a Happy New Year.

I apologize for the lack of posts lately. I'm planning something pretty big for the next day or two...my holiday break in pictures. Yes, that's right. You'll finally get to see what yours truly, AKA the Trauma Junkie, really looks like. Lol. I hope I don't break anyone's computer screen. Plus, there should be a few pictures of my little one from Christmas, our vacation to the coast, and New Year's Eve. Stay tuned for it, and I'm sure I'll tweet it after it's posted.


____________
Photo credit: Unsure of the original source. Saved from a post on G's Spot.