respiratory therapist
Meaning of respiratory therapist: Largely a North American profession by this name, since elsewhere the same work is divided among physiotherapists, nurses and physicians.
Definition of respiratory therapist
A respiratory therapist is a health professional trained to assess and treat problems with breathing and lung function. The work includes testing how well the lungs perform, giving inhaled medicines and oxygen, clearing secretions from the airways, and setting up and adjusting the machines that support or take over breathing.
What does the work involve?
| Task | What it means in practice |
|---|---|
| Assessment | Measuring oxygen levels, taking arterial blood samples, and running lung function tests |
| Inhaled treatment | Delivering medicines as a mist or spray straight into the airways |
| Oxygen therapy | Selecting the delivery device and adjusting the amount given |
| Airway clearance | Techniques and devices that loosen secretions and move them out of the lungs |
| Ventilation | Setting up and adjusting machines that assist or replace breathing, and helping people come off them |
| Emergency work | Managing the airway during resuscitation and in critical care |
Where do they work, and with whom?
Intensive care is where the role is most visible, since anyone on a ventilator needs continual adjustment as their condition shifts. Beyond that they work in emergency departments, on general wards, in newborn and pediatric units, in sleep laboratories, in pulmonary rehabilitation, and in people's homes where long term oxygen or home ventilation has to be set up and monitored. They work closely with physicians and nurses, and their observations on how a person is responding frequently drive the next change in treatment, since much of respiratory therapy is delivered on a schedule and adjusted between ward rounds rather than at them.
How does the role differ from nearby ones?
| Role | Focus |
|---|---|
| Respiratory therapist | Breathing, gas exchange, and the machines supporting them |
| Pulmonologist | A physician who diagnoses and manages lung disease |
| Physical therapy practitioner | Movement, strength and mobility, and in many countries chest physiotherapy too |
| Occupational therapist | Managing everyday tasks within the limits a lung condition imposes |
The title itself is largely North American. In the United Kingdom, much of Europe and Australia there is no directly equivalent profession, and the same tasks are shared between specialist physiotherapists, critical care nurses and physicians, which is why job descriptions do not transfer neatly between countries.
Used in a sentence
The respiratory therapist adjusted the ventilator settings based on the patient's blood gas results.
Good to know
A respiratory therapist focuses on breathing, gas exchange and ventilatory support, which separates the role from physical therapy aimed at movement and strength, and the profession exists under this title mainly in North America.
Word origin
Where “respiratory therapist” comes from
Formed from Latin respirare, meaning to breathe, and Greek therapeia, meaning treatment, with the suffix -ist marking a practitioner.