Thursday, March 6, 2008

A Career in Respiratory Therapy

Career Center - by Get Degrees Staff

Are you looking for an exciting career in the field of healthcare? There are many great job opportunities in the field of healthcare today – one of them being respiratory therapy. Those interested in pursuing a career as a Respiratory Therapist will first need to earn an associates degree in respiratory therapy.

Respiratory therapists — also known as respiratory care practitioners — evaluate, treat and care for patients with breathing or other cardiopulmonary disorders. Practicing under the direction of a physician, they assume primary responsibility for all respiratory care therapeutic treatments and diagnostic procedures, including the supervision of respiratory therapy technicians. Respiratory therapists will consult with physicians and other healthcare staff to help develop and modify individual patient care plans. They also provide complex therapy requiring considerable independent judgment, such as caring for patients on life support in intensive-care units of hospitals.

Respiratory therapists evaluate and treat all types of patients, ranging from premature infants whose lungs are not fully developed to elderly people whose lungs are diseased. Respiratory therapists 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.

Job opportunities for respiratory therapists are expected to be great because of substantial growth in the numbers of the middle-aged and elderly population. Now is the time to get in on this exciting, and high profession.