Can I get a job when I graduate?

You might wonder why the first blog entry in this new student blog would be about graduation.  Shouldn't it focus on studying habits, weight lifting (have you seen Egan's book lately?), or some clever review of gas laws (eating burritos after midnight is bad)? 

Wonder no longer.  I suspect that you probably asked yourself this question long before choosing to enroll in a program: when I graduate, will I be able to secure a job?

In most places, the process used to go something like this.  Go to school.  Pass.  Take your NRBC credentialing exam.  Pick from the jobs being held out before you.    Pick several jobs if you'd like. 

Today, healthcare has changed drastically.  You know that already.  As money becomes more scarce for complicated reasons (including an insurance system that is hobbling along, tighter reimbursements to hospitals, and more), hospitals are making cuts wherever they can.  Respiratory Therapy departments are cutting costs, freezing positions, and making do with less.  In addition, the role of the Respiratory Therapist is changing from technician (requires lots of people to do manual-style labor), to physician-extender (requires many less people to think critically, while nurses adopt such roles as nebulizers, MDI's, Incentive Spirometers, and more). 

Here is the answer.  It is a question.  How badly do you want it? How hard are you willing to work? If you want to barely pass classes, do the minimum in clinical experiences, and then secure a job where you can get paid as much as possible to do as little as possible, you are going to have a tough time finding a job in today's healthcare climate.  However, if you are willing to do whatever it takes, sacrificing every free moment and ounce of energy you have to get through school; if you're ready to squeeze the learning out of every clinical experience - even if that means staying late or researching on day's off; if you're constantly applying critical thinking scenarios . . . you'll have no problem finding a job . . . ever. 

You have to think of school more as an abbreviated medical school.  People who become doctors sacrifice their free lives in order to achieve doctordom.  We are today's physician extenders.  Hospitals want therapists (yes, even new grads) who show passion, promise and the ability to think critically.

Are you up to the challenge?