Question
What are the keys to embracing your current position?
Answer
• Adopt an attitude of gratitude
• Create milestones for yourself celebrate when you reach them
• Have pride in the RT profession
• Start shift on a positive note always look on the bright side
• Reflect on how much you have grown in the position
• Look forward to learning new things
Adopt an attitude of gratitude. I know a lot of gurus say this, people sometimes think this stuff is hocus pocus, but there is a lot of fact to it. There is evidence that shows when people have an attitude of gratitude, and it makes their day. It makes life easier to get up in the morning. Meaning being grateful so you can put a roof over your family's head so that you are able to help grandma and grandpa with their housing. For example, my grandma is in Haiti. She is living her best life because I am able to help my parents, but they still help financially take care of her. She is glowing at 100 years old. Do you understand what I am saying? That makes us happy. We are grateful for that. This field has been able to help my family. Create milestones for yourself and celebrate when you reach them. What do I mean by that?
A lot of times, people wait for supervisors to create competencies for them. What you can do is you do not have to wait for them to do that. You can create your competencies and your milestones. For example, I was terrible at intubations, terrible. I created for myself when I first started in my level one trauma center position. I said, "If I could get five successful intubations, this will be such an improvement. I would celebrate that." I kept track of that, and it really helped me to feel happy where I was. I encourage people to do this for themselves, keep track of this stuff keep creating milestones throughout their careers.
Have pride in the RT profession. I hear many times people say, Oh, I feel like I am pushing a vent. If you feel like you are pushing a vent, then you are pushing a vent. Everything starts from the mind. I do not feel like I am pushing a vent. I feel like I am the life support. Not the vent. I am the life support because, at the end of the day, if something happens to the vent, I know what to do, and I am confident in what I have learned. This is the attitude that we should have as respiratory therapists. Trust and belief that people think if they can manage their iPhone, they think they know how to manage a vent because they think we are pushing buttons. Know that you know what a peak pressure is, then you know why the tidal volume is what it is. You know when to suction a patient by looking at the vent looking at the patient. Please have pride in what you do. Carry yourself solely, and it will really help you embrace the position that you have.
This Ask the Expert is an edited excerpt from the course, The Power of You: Unlocking Purpose Within Your Career, presented by Linda Nozart, MPH, BSRT, RRT, AE-C.
