Respiratory Care Practical Applications
Job opportunities are found in hospitals, intensive care units, emergency rooms, newborn and pediatric clinics, home care programs, skilled nursing facilities, rehabilitation centers, sleep study centers and doctors’ offices.
The job market continues to grow. See what the American Association for Respiratory Care had to say about the Employment and Financial Outlook.
See a list of jobs throughout the United States.
According to U.S. News & World Report, Respiratory Care
is listed in the top ten jobs with a great return on investment (see article).
Respiratory
therapist
- Most common
degree: Associate
- Median pay:
$52,200
Few jobs have the kind of growth projections as the respiratory therapist occupation. Employment is expected to jump more than 22 percent between 2008 and 2018, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Respiratory therapists help care for patients with lung or heart disorders, most often working in hospitals, but they are increasingly in patients' homes, medical equipment supply companies, or skilled
nursing facilities, according to the American Association for Respiratory Care. Part of the reason earnings are high in the profession has to do with respiratory therapists' ability to constrain costs, says Sam Giordano, chief executive of the association. The health care system puts a lot of value on a respiratory therapists' ability to treat patients and help physicians determine when a treatment is no longer called for—increasing the quality and timeliness of decision-making, Giordano says. Respiratory therapists can also help patients avoid ventilator-associated pneumonia by weaning them off the ventilator more quickly.