Where RTs WORK
One of the many great things about being an RT is that the profession is dedicated to patients of all ages and circumstances. Maybe you’re interested in working with newborns or children. Or maybe you’re interested in the fast-paced world of transport. Wherever you want to take your career, respiratory care is there.
You’ll find RTs—
- In hospitals, emergency rooms, operating rooms, and intensive care units delivering life saving breathing treatments to people with asthma and other respiratory conditions, managing ventilators that keep the critically ill patients alive or working with anesthesiologists to monitor patients’ breathing during surgery.
- In newborn and pediatric units helping children with conditions ranging from premature birth to asthma to cystic fibrosis. A neonatal RT might monitor the breathing of premature babies, treat infants born with pulmonary diseases or disorders, or respond to the unique respiratory care needs of an infant or child in an emergency.
- In patient’s homes providing regular check-ups and making sure people have what they need to stay out of the hospital, including monitoring oxygen levels, and helping manage medications for conditions like Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disorder (COPD or emphysema. These therapists may work for a hospital, but most work for companies that provide home care equipment to people at home.
- In sleep laboratories helping to diagnose disorders like sleep apnea. Over the past 30 years, sleep medicine technology has grown into a complex health care field, and respiratory therapists are increasingly being called upon to specialize in this dynamic area of care. RTs who work in sleep are generally employed by sleep laboratories, and they often work the night shift, when sleep studies are conducted.
- In skilled nursing facilities and pulmonary rehabilitation programs helping older people breathe easier and get more out of life. Pulmonary rehabilitation therapists help patients with chronic lung diseases like asthma, emphysema, chronic bronchitis, and pulmonary fibrosis cope with their conditions through education, treatment, and exercise. Most work in pulmonary rehabilitation centers, where they provide care and education to patients enrolled in their programs on an outpatient basis. Their primary goal is to help patients with chronic lung ailments breathe more easily and comfortably.
- In doctor’s offices and labs conducting pulmonary function tests and providing patient education. Therapists who enjoy the diagnostic aspects of respiratory care may specialize in pulmonary function testing. These therapists work in hospital-based or physician office-based pulmonary function laboratories, where they conduct the testing required to help physicians determine whether a person has a lung disease and, if so, which one.
- In air transport and ambulance programs rushing to rescue people in need of immediate medical attention. Surface and air transport RTs are a vital part of transport teams that treat critically ill patients in emergency transit to critical care units. These RTs do their job huddled in the back of a helicopter, air ambulance, or ground ambulance, working closely with nurses, physicians, and EMTs to keep patients alive and well until they can reach a hospital where they can receive necessary care. When they aren’t actively participating in a transport, these therapists work in other areas of their hospitals, from the emergency room to the intensive care units.
- In case management programs helping devise long-term care plans for patients. Long-term care RTs work in skilled nursing facilities, subacute care centers, rehab hospitals, and other types of long-term care facilities. RTs in this area work with post-acute and chronic disease patients who range in age from the very old to the very young.
- In universities and colleges educating future practitioners but also serving as an educational resource to practicing therapists. Respiratory therapy educators serve as professors and instructors in school programs, including those at the community college and university levels, and they may also work as continuing education coordinators for hospital RT departments.
- In executive positions managing personnel, budgets, and processes. Every respiratory care department has managerial personnel, and many RTs rise up the ranks to fill these positions. Managers in respiratory care are responsible for a wide range of duties — everything from staffing and budget preparation to setting policies and implementing directives from hospital administration.