If you watch cable TV you may have already seen the Special K \u201cOwn it\u201d marketing campaign that encourages women \u2013no matter what their shape or situation is \u2013 to \u201cproudly own it all\u201d. It\u2019s an interesting shift in perspective for a product that has always marketed itself to women as a diet cereal – but the ads are a refreshing change nonetheless. The concept of taking ownership rather than laying blame elsewhere for our situation is something we can apply across the board \u2013 including in our professional practice (come on, you knew I was going to bring this around to practice at some point).
We \u201cown\u201d the title Registered Respiratory Therapist in a number of ways – by maintaining the highest possible standard for ourselves in our practice, by conducting ourselves in a professional manner, and by meeting all the requirements of our certificate of registration. One of most basic registration requirements \u2013 and one that most of us are all too aware of – is to renew our membership on an annual basis and pay our registration fee on time. Seems straight forward enough and, for the majority of RRTs, it is. However, every year a certain number of RRTs don\u2019t renew their Membership and their certificates of registration are suspended. That\u2019s bad enough because now they have reinstatement fees to pay in addition to the renewal fee. Even worse, though, is the fact that they are not permitted to work with a suspended certificate of registration. It is really no different than our driver\u2019s license \u2013 we renew and pay so that we can drive. If we choose not to renew that license \u2013 we don\u2019t (or shouldn\u2019t) drive because driving with an expired or suspended license is a serious offense. Practicing as an RRT with a suspended certificate of registration is also a serious offense \u2013 and one that could have far-reaching consequences (think referral to discipline for professional misconduct).
I don\u2019t think any RRT looks forward to paying their yearly renewal fees. Apparently there are people in this world for which money is no object, but I have never met them. Most of us have just a bit less money than we would like to have and could probably find other things to do with $500 ($600 if you have to pay the late fee). But we are regulated professionals and so we have to own up to all that this entails \u2013 practicing with competence and integrity \u2013 and yes \u2013 renewing our Membership on time so that we can proudly call ourselves an RRT.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
If you watch cable TV you may have already seen the Special K \u201cOwn it\u201d marketing campaign that encourages women \u2013no matter what their shape or situation is \u2013 to \u201cproudly own it all\u201d. It\u2019s an interesting shift in perspective for a product that has always marketed itself to women as a diet cereal – […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,16,25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4438","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-employers-blog","category-members-blog","category-practice-blog"],"yoast_head":"\n