A Day in the Life: Respiratory Therapist | Cincinnati Children's

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Lauren Lampkin, respiratory therapist: "I'm Lauren Lampkin, I'm a registered Respiratory Therapist here at Cincinnati Children's, and this is A Day in the Life as a Respiratory Therapist. I feel like my primary job is to treat and care for your lungs. It's a great profession to grow in. You can start off with a 2-year degree, and you can also start in a four-year program. But you get to see and you get to work with a large variety of other disciplines. I like it for the fact that I can advocate for my patients as well as see the progression of them getting ready to go home. Some of your patients and your families, they're overwhelmed, they're unsure, and sometimes they just need a moment just to kind of gather themselves and to kind of understand so much information that you're providing for them."

Justin Meyer, respiratory therapist: "My name is Justin Meyer. I am a Respiratory Therapist in the Emergency Department. A lot of people think we just give breathing treatments and stuff, but there's a wide variety of things we do. Take care of ventilators, manage airways, help out in traumas. We’re able to do some nursing tasks such as Place IVs, draw blood, give fluids, things like that. So, there's a wide variety of things we actually do here at Children’s. You get to see them when they first come in, they're in distress, they're upset, they're sick. You make them feel better and it's very gratifying. You have a stable job that's rewarding, pays well, and you get to take care of kids. I mean, it's just a win-win all around, in my opinion."

Katie Lovett, respiratory therapist: "Good morning, my name is Katie. I'm going to be your respiratory therapist today. As a respiratory therapist, we manage the airways in the lungs and make sure they stay healthy. So, that consists of knowing the disease process, cleaning out any secretions that might be in there, managing the ventilators that makes the patient breathe sometimes, and being able to look at blood gases and letting the doctors know that we might need to change some settings. So, I feel like we're really in charge of what we need to do to make sure the lungs stay healthy. For me, my favorite part about my job is watching a patient that is critically ill on things like ECMO. We’re breathing for them on the vent and watching them be able to walk out of the ICU. It's a big deal to watch these really sick patients to start getting better. And it just makes me want to come in to work every day and help them get better."