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Respiratory Therapy Technicians

Also called: Respiratory Therapy Technician, Certified Respiratory Therapy Technician (CRTT), Respiratory Technician, Registered Pulmonary Function Technologist

Where in the military? In the military: see titles from the Army or Navy.

What they do:
Provide respiratory care under the direction of respiratory therapists and physicians.
On the job, you would:
  • Monitor patients during treatment and report any unusual reactions to the respiratory therapist.
  • Use ventilators or various oxygen devices or aerosol and breathing treatments in the provision of respiratory therapy.
  • Work with patients in areas such as the emergency rooms, neonatal or pediatric intensive care, or surgical intensive care, treating conditions such as emphysema, chronic bronchitis, asthma, cystic fibrosis, or pneumonia.

Knowledge

Health
  • medicine and dentistry
Business
  • customer service
Arts and Humanities
  • English language
Education and Training
  • teaching and course design

Skills

Basic Skills
  • keeping track of how well people and/or groups are doing in order to make improvements
  • listening to others, not interrupting, and asking good questions
Social
  • looking for ways to help people
  • understanding people's reactions
Problem Solving
  • noticing a problem and figuring out the best way to solve it

Abilities

Verbal
  • communicate by speaking
  • listen and understand what people say
Ideas and Logic
  • notice when problems happen
  • use rules to solve problems
Attention
  • pay attention to something without being distracted
  • do two or more things at the same time
Visual Understanding
  • quickly compare groups of letters, numbers, pictures, or other things

Personality

People interested in this work like activities that include
helping people, teaching, and talking.
They do well at jobs that need:
  • Dependability
  • Integrity
  • Self Control
  • Attention to Detail
  • Concern for Others
  • Stress Tolerance

Technology

You might use software like this on the job:

Medical software
  • Omnicare Cypress Therapy Management
  • Patient electronic medical record EMR software
Spreadsheet software
  • Microsoft Excel
Electronic mail software
  • Microsoft Outlook

Education

Education: (rated 3 of 5)
associate's degree or
some college
usually needed

Get started on your career:

Find Training

Job Outlook

Below Average Outlook
New job opportunities are less likely in the future.
Salary
$46,350
per year, on average
Check out my state Local Salary Info Find Jobs

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See more details at O*NET OnLine about respiratory therapy technicians.