Learn How to Prepare for a Respiratory Therapist Career in Northeast Ohio
Respiratory therapists and respiratory therapy technicians (also known as respiratory care practitioners) evaluate, treat, and care for patients of all ages with breathing or other cardiopulmonary disorders. There are different levels of respiratory therapist careers depending on education and experience.
Respiratory therapists (entry-level), sometimes called respiratory therapy technicians, perform general, well-defined respiratory care procedures, under the direction of respiratory therapists and physicians.
Educational programs for entry-level therapists are usually two years in length, leading to an associate's degree.
Respiratory therapists, practicing under physician direction, assume primary responsibility for all respiratory care therapeutic treatments and diagnostic procedures, including the supervision of respiratory therapy technicians.
- Treat patients with oxygen or oxygen mixtures, chest physiotherapy, and aerosol medications.
- Provide temporary relief to patients with chronic asthma or emphysema, as well as emergency care to patients who are victims of a heart attack, stroke, drowning, or shock.
- Test a patient’s breathing (lung) capacity.
- Analyze oxygen, carbon dioxide, and pH levels in the blood by drawing an arterial blood sample, placing it in a blood gas analyzer and relaying the results to a physician for use in treatment decisions.
- Connect patients who cannot breathe on their own to ventilators that deliver pressurized oxygen into the lungs.
- Consult with physicians and other healthcare staff to help develop and modify individual patient care plans.
- Provide complex therapy requiring considerable independent judgment, such as caring for patients on life support in hospital intensive care units.
Advanced level respiratory therapists complete two or more years of formal training and education, leading to an associate's degree, baccalaureate degree or graduate degree.
Most employers require certification: CRT for entry-level positions and RRT for supervisory positions and intensive-care specialties.
The National Board for Respiratory Care (NBRC) (www.nbrc.org) offers voluntary certification and registration to graduates of programs accredited by Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs (CAAHEP) or the Committee on Accreditation for Respiratory Care (CoARC) (www.nbrc.org). Two credentials are awarded to respiratory therapists who satisfy the requirements: Registered Respiratory Therapist (RRT) and Certified Respiratory Therapist (CRT). Graduates from accredited programs in respiratory therapy may take the CRT examination. CRTs who meet education and experience requirements can take two separate examinations, leading to the award of the RRT credential. The CRT examination is the standard in the states requiring licensure.
More than 40 states license respiratory care personnel. Check licensure requirements with the board of respiratory care examiners for the state in which you plan to work. The state of Ohio requires licensure. Ohio requirements can be found online at http://respiratorycare.ohio.gov.
- Bowling Green State University, Huron (A)
- Bowling Green State University at Lorain County Community College, Elyria (A)
- Cuyahoga Community College, Parma (A)
- Kent State University, Ashtabula (A)
- Lakeland Community College, Kirtland (A)
- Stark State College, Canton (A)
- University of Akron/Summit College, Akron (A)
- University of Toledo, Toledo (C) (B)
- Youngstown State University, Youngstown (B)
- (Type of program: A=Associate Degree; B=Baccalaureate Degree, C=Certificate; D=Diploma )
- American Association for Respiratory Care (www.aarc.org)
- Commission on Accreditation for Allied Health Education Programs (www.caahep.org)