Respiratory Therapists

[msommers]

A friend of mine was talking about doing this but since I know there are some hospital workers on here I figured I'd throw out the question.

Basic questions were type of advancements from say beginning to end, likewise pay scale entry to top wage, usual hourly work week, if there's lots of shift work, working environments etc. For people who work close to these therapists, do you see many positions becoming open in the city, or at all now or in the near future? Any sort of job shadowing opportunities?

Cheers.

[mago0]

Didn't see this thread till now.

I'm a RRT at the Childrens Hospital and been working for ~3 years. Your typical RT position is 'casual' at any hospital Meaning, you work in almost any unit. Once you decide what you would like to do, you can pick up a position at your unit of choice and decide to 'core'. For me, I decided to go into the NICU and now into the PICU at the Childrens. I'm hoping to get into the transport team and work my way up from there.

Pay I believe starts at ~35-36/hr + shift diff. I get an extra 5 bucks an hour on nights, and $3 on weekends. The typical work week is 2 days, 2 nights, and 4 off, repeat. Each shift is 7am-7pm or 7pm-7am. Work environments can be stressful, only because you're only called when shit hits the fan. If you're at the bedside, usually something is wrong and you are called for assistance.

For positions, I didn't have any problems landing a job. I was hired before I graduated, and started fulltime with benefits about a year in. I don't see it slowing down, especially with South Health Campus and opening up beds at the Childrens PICU.

For job shadowing opportunities, I don't think we offer it. Only due to privacy issues. However, I did do a student for a day at SAIT. Call the department at sait and see if you can do a student for a day.

If you have any questions, please let me know.

As a side note, I love my job and I wouldn't trade this for anything else. It's extremely rewarding to drive home and think of the difference you made, and you never drive in rush hour traffic due to our start and end hours.

[msommers]

Thank you very much for taking the time, that's exactly what they wanted to know!!