Certified Respiratory Therapist

Overview

Saint Joseph Hospital is a 433-bed facility located in Lexington Kentucky. Founded in 1877 a small group of Sisters of Charity of Nazareth in Kentucky led by Sister Euphrasia Stafford began their health ministry.

Their mission was to provide compassionate care to the poor and underserved a tradition still carried out today. Saint Joseph Hospital primarily serves central and eastern Kentucky with a full range of services including distinguished awards for cardiology orthopedics and stroke care.

CHI Saint Joseph Health supports 5000 active employees 8 hospitals specialty clinics and a Medical Group with more than 200 locations across Central and Eastern KY.

CommonSpirit Health was formed by the alignment of Catholic Health Initiatives (CHI) and Dignity Health in 2019. With our combined resources CommonSpirit is committed to building healthy communities advocating for those who are poor and vulnerable and innovating how and where healing can happen both inside our hospitals and out in the community.

Responsibilities

Job Summary / Purpose

The Respiratory Therapist IIis a Certified Respiratory Therapist (CRT) that possesses working knowledge of respiratory care and has displayed age-specific competence for all age groups serviced by the facility.

The incumbent conducts himself / herself in a professional manner and is courteous to patients, physicians, visitors, members of the department and all other healthcare personnel.

The incumbent supports and contributes to departmental productivity and organizational objectives by functioning as an integrated member of the respiratory care team and performs services consistent with his / her scope of licensure.

The incumbent supports and exhibits behaviors consistent with the organization’s mission and values in offering hope and healing to all.

Essential Key Job Responsibilities

• Plans and administers non-medicated aerosol and humidity therapy.
• Plans and administers oxygen therapy (including implementation of oxygen therapy protocol where appropriate).
• Plans and administers aerosolized medication and specialty gas therapy.
• Plans and administers COPD care program.
• Performs airway management.
• Plans and administers incentive spirometry.
• Cleans and reprocesses respiratory therapy equipment and stocks supplies for immediate use.
• Plans and administers bronchial hygiene and performs chest physiotherapy (including implementation of bronchial hygiene protocol where appropriate).
• Performs cardiopulmonary resuscitation and manual ventilation during resuscitation attempts and aides in rapid response calls when appropriate.
• Collects, analyzes and reports arterial blood samples.
• Operates mechanical ventilators (invasive and non-invasive) and manages ventilator settings and weaning per protocols and provider orders.
• Performs electrocardiography studies.
• Performs bedside pulmonary function testing.
• Performs overnight pulse oximetry.
• When called upon to do so, serves as a preceptor to newly hired employees and / or respiratory therapy students.
• When called upon to do so, serves in the charge respiratory therapist role.
• When called upon to do so, assists in research projects (as directed by departmental and facility leadership).
• Provides patient, family, hospital staff and physician education as appropriate.
• Attend staff or hospital meetings as required and participates on committees as directed.
• Performs other duties, within the scope of licensure, as assigned.
• Licensed Respiratory Therapists are qualified to perform respiratory care procedures as evidenced by education, training, experience and competency assessments.

Preceptor supervision will be required during onboarding and orientation. The therapist should be able to independently carry out all respiratory therapy procedures at completion of orientation.

Critical care competencies may require additional education and training (. intubation, arterial line insertions) Once these competencies are completed the employee is able to independently perform the procedures

Other duties assigned by manager.

Qualifications

Required Education for Staff Job Levels

At a minimum, the incumbent shall have received the equivalent of an Associate’s Degree in Cardiopulmonary Services or Respiratory Care from an accredited respiratory therapy educational program.

Required Licensure and Certifications

The incumbent shall be distinguished as a Certified Respiratory Therapist (CRT) by the National Board for Respiratory Care (NBRC);

such distinction shall be kept current (if applicable). Additionally, the incumbent shall hold an active license as a Respiratory Care Practitioner from the Kentucky Board of Respiratory Care.

The incumbent shall hold a current certificate from the American Heart Association (AHA) in Basic Life Support or Basic Life Support for Healthcare Providers.

It is desired that the incumbent hold a current certificate from the AHA in Advanced Cardiac Life Support. If the incumbent functions within the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, he / she shall hold a current certificate from the AHA / American Academy of Pediatrics as a Neonatal Resuscitation Program Provider.

Required Minimum Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

The incumbent shall be skilled in interpersonal communication to the level that is required to effectively interact with patients, visitors and members of the healthcare team.

The incumbent shall possess critical thinking skills adequate to evaluate patient conditions and recommend appropriate intervention (or to seek assistance when necessary).

The incumbent shall display time management skills that are sufficient to organize scheduled tasks in a manner that ensures delivery of high quality respiratory care.

At a minimum, the incumbent shall communicate in English at the twelfth grade level. The incumbent shall possess basic rationale in communicating therapeutic needs with patients, visitors and members of the healthcare team.

The incumbent shall possess working knowledge of Microsoft Office applications and basic understanding of electronic health record systems.

PREFERRED Qualifications

No prior experience in respiratory care is required; at least one year of experience in respiratory critical care is preferred.