The other day I downloaded a device driver to my computer in an (unsuccessful) attempt to fix something. And when the long, wordy agreement notice came up, I will freely admit that I didn’t read it – but instead quickly clicked “I agree”. I suppose its human nature to just want to get the job […]
I think we can all agree that we’ve had to work pretty hard to become RRTs. First, there were three years of schooling (only two for oldsters like me – but still), the HPTC exam, and then years and years of ongoing professional development. But did you know that each year approximately 35 RRTs have […]
Advances in computerized technology provide health care professionals with enhanced capability to monitor a wide variety of patient conditions and, hopefully, prevent adverse events. However, with that comes a multitude of alerts, alarms and – in the case of ventilators and cardiac monitors – a cacophony of noise and flashing lights. This has led to […]
Someone told me the other day that: “There is no point in me taking any extra courses or paying for a conference. I know all I need to in order to do my job. There is nothing more I need to learn.” I didn’t really know how to respond to that statement. Personally, I can’t […]
It seems like with every day that passes, RTs are having new responsibilities added to their roles. While most – including the CRTO – view this evolution of the profession as a positive thing, RTs sometimes express concerns about what could happen if they embark on a new endeavour and something goes wrong. One comment […]
In the healthcare setting, cultural competence refers to the ability to provide appropriate and effective medical care to members of various cultural groups. RTs provide care to patients/clients with diverse values, beliefs and behaviours. A practitioner therefore must become competent in providing equitable care though the process of gaining a congruent set of behaviours and […]
The therapeutic relationship between an RT and his/her patient/client is one of empathy, trust and respect. It is important to acknowledge that there exists within this relationship an inherent power imbalance. The RT has access to specialized knowledge, privileged information that the patient/client does not have. The RT also has the ability to advocate on […]
