RESPIRATORY THERAPIST/RESPIRATORY THERAPIST TECHNICIAN

RESPIRATORY THERAPIST/RESPIRATORY THERAPIST TECHNICIAN

Respiratory care deals with deficiencies and abnormalities of the lungs, heart and circulatory system. The diagnostic side of respiratory care centers around special tests and measurements to determine how a patient’s lungs are functioning. Respiratory care workers also monitor the cardiopulmonary (heart and lung) functions of critically ill patients with the help of complex, high-technology equipment.

Under medical direction, respiratory care procedures involve the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, control, and rehabilitation of breathing disorders such as asthma and emphysema, as well as in the emergency care of cardiac failure, cerebral thrombosis, hemorrhage, embolism, and shock. Respiratory care is of immediate and crucial importance in the treatment of acute respiratory conditions arising from head injury, drowning or drug poisoning. Respiratory care is also concerned with the medical problems associated with cigarette smoking and air pollution.

In both emergency and temporary care the therapist is able to administer gas, aerosol, and humidity therapies; intermittent positive-pressure breathing treatments; cardiopulmonary resuscitation; long term continuous artificial ventilation; and other special therapeutic procedures.

HOW DO I BECOME A RESPIRATORY CARE PRACTITIONER?

High school students interested in a career in respiratory care are advised to take courses in health, biology, mathematics, and physics.

Both two-year and four-year degree programs are available in respiratory care. Admittance into educational programs requires a high school diploma or the equivalent (GED).  While respiratory therapists must complete four years of formal training, respiratory therapy technicians usually only need one or two.  Following successful completion of a national exam after graduation, one becomes either a certified respiratory therapy technician (CRTT), or registered respiratory therapist (RRT).

WHAT WILL I LEARN IN A RESPIRATORY CARE PRACTITIONER PROGRAM?

You will learn such therapeutic procedures as the administration of medical gases, aerosols, and humidification, breathing exercises, and chest physiotherapy.  In addition, you will learn to operate and maintain special respiratory equipment such as mechanical ventilators and oxygen tents. With additional academic training and/or work experience, you may perform administrative, teaching and research duties, and care for  patients with difficult or unusual diagnostic problems.

LIFE AFTER GRADUATION

Graduation from an approved educational program and completion of specific experience and state licensing requirements qualifies the candidate to take the national examinations.  If successful, you become certified by the National Board for Respiratory Care as a Registered Respiratory Therapist (RRT).

Most respiratory care practitioners are employed in hospital respiratory care, anesthesiology, or pulmonary departments. Others work in physicians’ offices, long-term care facilities, industries, rehabilitation centers or contracting firms that provide respiratory care services.  Practitioners often work with trauma victims and the critically ill. Their patients include newborns, asthmatics, allergy sufferers, drowning victims, and cardiac patients. They must be quick to spot any change in a patient’s condition and must be ready to administer immediate lifesaving aid.

Human relation skills must be just as finely honed as scientific and technical skills. Respiratory care practitioners must give health care wrapped in encouragement, kindness and understanding. They help their patients to understand their medical problems and teach them how they can restore their health through at-home care.

PROFESSIONAL INFORMATION SOURCES:

American Association for Respiratory Care, Inc.
9425 N. MacArthur Blvd. Ste 100
Irving, TX 75063
(972) 243- 2272
www.aarc.org