How to Train to Become a Respiratory Therapist
A respiratory therapist training module explores ways for assessing, treating and caring for patients with breathing disorders. Before becoming a respiratory therapist, you must fulfill academic, on-the-job and regulatory training criteria. In addition, you must possess an analytical disposition and be able to effectively communicate with patients. Respiratory therapists are also known as inhalation therapists.
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Academic Requirements
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An associate degree is the minimum educational requirement for inhalation therapist positions, but a bachelor's or master's degree helps advance professionally, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Institutions that provide respiratory therapist degrees include medical schools, vocational-technical institutes, colleges and universities, and the armed forces. You can improve your prospects of entry into the occupation by attending programs that are accredited. The most important accreditation organizations include the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs, the Committee on Accreditation for Respiratory Care and the National Board for Respiratory Care.
Potential Trainees
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After graduating from college, you will receive on-the-job training, usually under the tutelage of an experienced inhalation therapist or medical specialist. When training to become a respiratory therapist, you also may attend sessions with other experienced professionals who want to polish their medical acumen or stay up-to-date on the latest laws and regulations. These professionals include registered respiratory therapists, respiratory care practitioners and certified respiratory specialists, according to O-Net OnLine, the U.S. Department of Labor's occupational research branch. Other attendees with whom you may interact include staff respiratory therapists, respiratory therapy directors, supervisors of cardiopulmonary services and clinical coordinators of respiratory therapy. These professional branches within the respiratory therapy occupation represent possible avenues you may embrace in your future career-development strategies.
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Training Curriculum
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When attending a respiratory training seminar, you learn how to provide emergency care, including artificial respiration, assistance with cardiopulmonary resuscitation and external cardiac massage. Instructors teach you to read prescription, measure arterial blood gases, set up and operate mechanical ventilators and monitor patients' physiological responses to therapy. In addition, curricular guidance covers the safety policies that respiratory therapists must follow when administering care to patients, including U.S. Department of Health and Human Services guidelines.
Tools and Technology
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A respiratory therapist training session teaches how to use the tools of the trade, according to O-Net OnLine. These include arterial blood gas monitors or accessories, flow sensors or regulators, medical oxygen masks or parts, pulmonary function testing machines and small particle aerosol generators. You also polish skills with oxygen flowmeters and tracheotomy masks.
Considerations
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Well-trained respiration therapists improve their earning power and occupational productivity in the short and long terms. As of 2010, a therapist earned an annual salary of $57,0000 on average, according to online job resource Indeed.
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