Career Advice for RTs

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Greg Langstaff is a Certified Resume Strategist and Job Search Coach.  For the past 10 years, he has worked in North America as a recruiter and hiring manager.  Since 2014 he has helped applicants enhance their resumes and improve their job search and hiring process.

A friend on Instagram had shared his post and that’s how I learned about his work.  I have greatly enjoyed his content and have purchased almost all his online products.   I reached out to Greg to get some answers to some of the most asked questions my audience asks me, and he was kind enough to reply.   I strongly encourage you to spend the time to learn from his knowledge and experience at www.GregLangstaff.com .

1. What advice do you have for new graduate respiratory therapists who don’t have much experience?

Don’t be afraid to add bullet points under your education just like you would in a job. You can describe major projects, relevant courses completed, and other things you covered during your education to showcase the skills you developed before starting your career as a professional.

2. What advice do you have for experienced RTs who have worked only at one place for a long time but now are considering a change?

Firstly, don’t feel like this is a bad thing. Your history of loyalty will make you a desirable candidate. Also, it’s totally normal to make a change like this after a long time with one company. In your resume, just be sure to focus some content on the changes you helped to facilitate at your current job employer so that the potential employer knows you’re willing and able to adapt to change.

Thank you Greg for your time and for sharing your expertise with RTs!

Bullet point ideas, cover letter and resume templates, LinkedIn optimization, and much more is discussed in his eBooks and his educational platform (https://greglangstaff.com). Also, check out his content on TikTok (https://www.tiktok.com/@greglangstaff), Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/langstaff.greg/), and YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbqOFQ5u-ZiT6kgwo9viP2Q)! 

Happy learning,

Farzad Refahi
April 11th, 2023

Let’s Read an Article a Month – March 2023

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The cropped screenshot of the first page of the article. It also includes the URL or link to the article.

Every month I try to read an open-access article. Then, I share the title and associated link with my followers. This is to encourage clinicians to read articles, stay up-to-date, and continue to grow.

The objective of this month’s paper is to “characterize the mental health and functioning of Canadian RTs and compare profiles between RTs working on and off designated COVID-19 units” (p3).

Characterizing the mental health and functioning of Canadian respiratory therapists during the COVID-19 pandemic

By D’Alessandro-Lowe AM, Ritchie K, Brown A, Xue Y, Pichtikova M, Altman M, Beech I, Millman H, Levy Y, Asma S, Hassall K, Foster F, Rodrigues S, Hosseiny F, O’Connor C, Heber A, Malain A, Schielke H, Lanius RA, McCabe RE, and McKinnon MC.. 

Eur J Psychotraumatol. 2023;14(1):2171751. doi: 10.1080/20008066.2023.2171751. PMID: 36880459; PMCID: PMC9990694.

Link to the article: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9990694/pdf/ZEPT_14_2171751.pdf

“The results of the present study suggest the need for adequate mental health supports for Canadian RTs. “

page 8

“ Almost one in five (18%) of the participants scored above the cut-offs for depression, anxiety, stress and PTSD, collectively.”

page 7

“ Depression, anxiety and stress, PTSD and functional impairment scores did not significantly differ between those on and off COVID-19 units (p’s > .05) .“

page 7

“RTs are excluded from presumptive legislation surrounding PTSD in some Canadian provinces.”

page 8

Happy reading and learning,

Farzad Refahi

March 18th, 2023

https://respiratory.blog/lets-read-an-article-a-month-MARCH-2023/

Let’s Read an Article a Month – February 2023

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The cropped screenshot of the first page of the article. It also includes the URL or link to the article.

Every month I try to read an open-access article. Then, I share the title and associated link with my followers. This is to encourage clinicians to read articles, stay up to date, and continue to grow.


The objective of this month’s paper is to evaluate “the dose-exposure and safety of nintedanib in children and adolescents with fibrosing ILD” (p2).

Nintedanib in children and adolescents with fibrosing interstitial lung diseases

By: Robin Deterding, Lisa R. Young, Emily M. DeBoer, David Warburton, Steven Cunningham, Nicolaus Schwerk, Kevin R. Flaherty, Kevin K. Brown, Mihaela Dumistracel, Elvira Erhardt, Julia Bertulis, Martina Gahlemann, Susanne Stowasser, and Matthias Griese for the InPedILD trial investigators.

European Respiratory Journal 2023 61: 2201512;
DOI: 10.1183/13993003.01512-2022

Link to the article: https://erj.ersjournals.com/content/61/2/2201512

“ The results demonstrated that nintedanib had an acceptable safety profile in this patient population. “

page 8

 “..the pharmacokinetic data from the InPedILD trial show that the weight-based dosing regimen achieved exposure in paediatric patients that was comparable to that observed in adults treated with 150 mg twice daily, supporting the use of this dosing regimen in the paediatric population.”

page 8

Happy reading and learning,

Farzad Refahi

Feb. 15th, 2023

https://respiratory.blog/lets-read-an-article-a-month-February-2023/

Let’s Read an Article a Month – January 2023

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The cropped screenshot of the first page of the article. It also includes the URL or link to the article.

Every month I try to read an open-access article. Then I share the link with my followers. This is to encourage clinicians to read articles, stay up to date, and continue to grow.

This month I found a great piece to share with you.  The objective of this paper is to “to assess the association of respiratory symptoms and lung function with occupation in the Burden of Obstructive Lung Disease” (p6).

Association of respiratory symptoms and lung function with occupation in the multinational Burden of Obstructive Lung Disease (BOLD) study

By: Jate Ratanachina, Andre F.S. Amaral, Sara De Matteis, Herve Lawin, Kevin Mortimer, Daniel O. Obaseki, Imed Harrabi, Meriam Denguezli, Emiel F.M. Wouters, Christer Janson, Rune Nielsen, Amund Gulsvik, Hamid Hacene Cherkaski, Filip Mejza, Padukudru Anand Mahesh, Asma Elsony, Rana Ahmed, Wan Tan, Li Cher Loh, Abdul Rashid, Michael Studnicka, Asaad A. Nafees, Terence Seemungal, Althea Aquart-Stewart, Mohammed Al Ghobain, Jinping Zheng, Sanjay Juvekar, Sundeep Salvi, Rain Jogi, David Mannino, Thorarinn Gislason, A. Sonia Buist, Paul Cullinan, and Peter Burney.

European Respiratory Journal 2023 61: 2200469; DOI: 10.1183/13993003.00469-2022

Link to the article: https://erj.ersjournals.com/content/61/1/2200469

“We found no significant associations between post-bronchodilator FEV1/FVC ratio or FVC and work in any of the high-risk occupations. FEV1/FVC was low in coal miners, sandblasters, chemical or plastic processors and steel millers with long durations of exposure, but these associations were not statistically significant. Moreover, there was no evidence of exposure-response associations of either post-bronchodilator lung function measures with any of the specific occupations.”

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“Chronic phlegm but not chronic airflow obstruction was more likely to occur among users than among never-users of solid fuels.”

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“The occurrence of occupational asthma, presenting with wheeze and breathlessness without affecting post-bronchodilator lung function. This can be induced by substances in workplaces such as animal dusts, flour, chemicals and metals.”

page 12

Happy reading and learning!

Farzad Refahi

www.respiratory.blog/lets-read-an-article-a-month-january-2023/

Let’s Read an Article a Month – December 2022

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The cropped screenshot of the first page of the article. It also includes the URL or link to the article.

Every month I read an open-access article. I share the title and associated link with my followers to encourage clinicians to read more articles, stay up-to-date, and continue to grow.

The objective of this month’s review paper is “ to identify the types of available evidence and knowledge gaps in the literature regarding the delivery of aerosolized medication to neonatal and pediatric populations during mechanical ventilation” (p200).

Optimal delivery of aerosolized medication to mechanically ventilated pediatric and neonatal patients: A scoping review

By: Louise Chartrand, Victoria Ploszay and Sébastien Tessier

Canadian Journal of Respiratory Therapists (CJRT).
Published online December 16, 2022

Link to the article: https://www.cjrt.ca/wp-content/uploads/cjrt-2022-044.pdf

 “We, therefore, recommend more research on aerosol delivery to inform best practice guidelines. We specifically recommend further investigation of more varied ventilator settings and nebulizer positions on the efficacy of the delivery of different aerosolized drugs.”

p202
  • “ the superiority of mesh nebulizers and inferiority of jet nebulizers for delivering albuterol to pediatric patients” (p200). 
  • “Further studies are necessary to determine which [ventilator] settings have an impact and how settings can be optimized to enhance aerosol drug delivery to pediatric patients” (p201).
  • “Optimal placement of devices for delivering aerosolized medication remains unknown” (p202).

As always, take the time to fully read the article. 

Happy reading and learning,

Farzad Refahi

Dec 30th, 2022

https://respiratory.blog/lets-read-an-article-a-month-december-2022/