Respiratory Therapist

Respiratory Therapist, Certified

Core Duties:

• Perform complex respiratory procedures within the scope of practice delineated by MTF.
• Participate with physicians, nurses and other staff in planning respiratory treatment, with great reliance on the individual's knowledge of the equipment.
• Provide emergency or critical respiratory care.

Additional Duties:

• Efficiently administer all types of respiratory care, and efficiently draw blood, in accordance with professional qualifications, and as directed by the physician or advanced practice provider.
• Operate and troubleshoot all types of respiratory equipment to include proper disassembly, cleaning, sterilization, and packaging of all respiratory therapy equipment to ensure safe patient care.
• Maintain equipment, to include performing examinations to detect worn tubes, loose connections or other indications of disrepair and notify supervisor of need for maintenance. Start equipment and observe gauges measuring pressure, rate of flow and continuity of test equipment. Notify supervisor of malfunctions.
• Be familiar with the functions and modes of equipment, ensuring equipment is cleaned, reassembled, and returned to storage.
• Receive, set-up, operate, and maintain various devices and systems such as ventilators, nebulizers, oxygen therapy systems, humidity and aerosol therapy, sterilizers, and aeration chambers.
• Administer prescribed doses of medical gases and aerosolized drugs intermittently and continuously.
• Perform airway management and hygiene including chest percussion postural drainage. Obtain arterial blood gas specimens.
• Perform patient assessments and monitoring and provide patient instructions including breathing exercises. Make therapeutic recommendations. Examine patient records and report and identify changes in the clinical status of patients. Identify contraindications and report adverse responses/reactions.
• Change nebulizers on nursing wards and reset oxygen flow as prescribed by physicians.
• Stock shelves in department and other departments of the MTF as needed for the provision of respiratory therapy.

Additional Qualifications:

• Must meet BLS requirements
• Maintain Advance Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) certification from American Heart Association.
• Certification: N/A
• Possess 1 year of full-time experience within the last 3 years in a clinical setting of similar size and complexity.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Degree: Associates Degree.
• Education: Graduate from a program accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Respiratory Care (CoARC) or Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs (CAAHEP).
• Certification: Possess certification as Certified Respiratory Therapist (CRT) by the National Board for Respiratory Care (NBRC). Registered Respiratory Therapist (RRT) by the National Board of Respiratory Care (NBRC) preferred.
• Experience: One year of experience within the last three years as a Respiratory Therapist.

Work Schedule:

Services shall be provided Sunday through Saturday between the hours of 0600 and 1900 or one between the hours of 1800 and 0700. HCWs shifts will be scheduled for six (6) 13-hour shifts and one (1) 8.5-hour shift in the ICU, CCU and the Cardiac Step-Down Unit. All shifts include an uncompensated 30-to-60-minute meal break, respectively. For weekend service, each HCW will work every other weekend, Saturday, and Sunday. In no instance will the HCW be required to provide services more than 80 hours per two-week period.