Respiratory Therapist
Elizabethtown, Kentucky
Baptist Healthcare System, Inc. - 913 North Dixie Avenue

Respiratory Therapist

• Location: Elizabethtown, Kentucky
• Employment type: Clinical-Allied
• Contract length: 12 weeks
• Shift: 6a-6p, 12 hours per day, 36 hours per week

Role Summary

The certified respiratory therapist assesses, treats, and monitors patients with respiratory diseases and conditions. This includes delivering medicated and non-medicated therapy as ordered by the provider, providing invasive and non-invasive mechanical ventilator support for acute respiratory failure, performing diagnostic testing, and assisting with departmental quality improvement, equipment, and supplies. Therapists follow all rules and regulations set by the licensure board for the state where respiratory therapy is practiced.

Key Responsibilities

• Critical/emergent care (35%): Responds to code blue and rapid response situations, supports high-risk deliveries including the compromised newborn, manages airways (endotracheal and tracheostomy tubes), monitors ventilated patients, and assists with advanced procedures such as endotracheal tube insertion, arterial line placement, and bronchoscopy.
• General care (30%): Provides prescribed medicated and therapeutic treatments, oxygen therapy, patient assessments with recommendations to providers, and education for patients and families.
• Diagnostic procedures (15%): Performs pulmonary function testing, neurodiagnostic studies such as EEG, cardiac testing such as 12-lead ECG and Holter monitoring, arterial and capillary blood gas sampling, blood gas analysis, and oximetry studies.
• Communication (10%): Documents in the medical record, gives shift report and transfer information, educates peers and students, and attends departmental meetings and in-services.
• Equipment and supply management (10%): Prepares ventilators and gas delivery devices, ensures departmental analyzers function properly, and communicates equipment and supply needs.

Required Qualifications

• Valid Registered Respiratory Therapist license in Kentucky
• Certification in Respiratory Therapy (Kentucky Board of Respiratory Care)
• Associate's degree in respiratory care
• Registered Respiratory Therapist with at least 1 year of experience, including experience within the last year
• BLS
• ACLS
• PALS
• NRP
• Experience with arterial blood sampling
• Ability to interpret arterial blood gases (ABGs)
• Experience with pulmonary function testing (PFTs)