For many people, a rewarding and good career can be defined as more than what they do to earn a living. It gives one an opportunity to make a great difference in the community, an opportunity to earn self-respect, an opportunity to start a voyage of self-discovery, and more importantly, an opportunity to earn a decent living helping people live their best. As is therefore expected, a career with the fattest pay check in itself cannot help one fulfill such lifelong aspirations.
The health care sector is one of the few employment opportunities that promise a career that will be very rewarding and meaningful at the same time. Health care though is a very wide field with a very wide gamut of sub-fields, and finding the perfect career path can prove to be a daunting task. One career path though that is currently taking the world by storm is the respiratory therapy field. This is a medical profession that deals with helping with the respiratory functioning of individuals suffering from severe disorders of their respiratory systems.
Otherwise referred to as respiratory care practitioner, a Respiratory Therapist (RT) is responsible for assessment, evaluation, diagnosis, prognosis, treatment, and continuous patient care for people with cardiopulmonary and breathing complications. An RT works hand in hand with physicians and nurses, mostly in emergency situations, to give patients care to people of all age groups, ranging from infants born prematurely to elderly individuals whose respiratory systems get compromised as they age.
The role of a respiratory therapist in a typical setting include responding to emergency calls, performing resuscitation operations, administering oxygen, and helping in the operation and management of ventilators. Those are just few of the many responsibilities of a graduate respiratory therapist in a typical health care setting. Of course the job description will vary from one setting to another, based on the employer and the situation at hand.
To become an RT, you are supposed to enroll in any recognized university that offers a program in respiratory therapy. Being conferred with a degree in respiratory therapy will help you earn essential skills and knowledge that will not only prepare you for the certification examination as required by the National Board of Respiratory Care (NBRC), you will also be able to earn invaluable skills that will make you a competent care giver in the job market.
With that being said, the employment opportunities for RTs are very promising and bright hence the consumer demand for qualified RTS is rapidly growing. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the employment for respiratory therapists is projected to have an upsurge thanks to an aging population that is very vulnerable to cardiopulmonary and respiratory disorders.