A respiratory therapist in a critical access hospital answers every code and breathing emergency, from the ER to the swing beds. They run ventilators and BiPAP for patients waiting to transfer, and give breathing treatments on the unit. They draw and run blood gases, and often cover EKGs or lung function tests between calls.
By the HireBus team · Updated · Pay data: BLS, May 2025
We're hiring a respiratory therapist to treat breathing problems for ED, inpatient and swing bed patients. In a small hospital, you're part of every code and every hard airway, and you manage ventilators and BiPAP for critical patients waiting for transfer. You'll also give treatments, run blood gases and do [EKGs or pulmonary function tests] as assigned.
2. Essential Duties and Responsibilities
Give breathing treatments, oxygen therapy and airway clearance per orders and protocols.
Respond to codes, rapid responses and trauma activations, and help the provider with airway management and intubation.
Set up and manage ventilators and BiPAP, including for critical patients waiting for transfer.
Draw and run arterial blood gases and call critical results, where your hospital assigns them.
Assess breathing and response to treatment, and recommend changes within protocols and your state's scope of practice.
Check, clean and maintain respiratory equipment, oxygen supplies and airway supplies on code carts.
Teach patients to use inhalers, home oxygen and CPAP before discharge.
3. Key Tasks / Daily Activities
Take handoff on patients using oxygen, BiPAP or ventilators.
Give scheduled treatments and assessments, and chart them in [your EHR].
Answer ED pages for shortness of breath, blood gases and airway support.
Check oxygen cylinders and backup supplies, and restock carts.
Run [EKGs, pulmonary function tests or sleep studies] when assigned.
4. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Treatments given on schedule: [your target].
Response time to ED and code pages: [your target].
Protocol compliance: [your target].
Ventilator checks completed: [your target].
5. Required Qualifications and Skills
CRT or RRT credential from the NBRC.
State respiratory care license where your state requires.
Current BLS and ACLS, plus PALS and NRP where your hospital requires.
Graduate of a CoARC-accredited respiratory care program.
Experience with ventilators and noninvasive ventilation, or training on [your equipment].
6. Preferred Experience
RRT credential.
Experience in a rural ED or critical care setting.
Pulmonary function testing or sleep study experience.
[1+] years of hospital respiratory therapy experience.
7. Physical Requirements
Stand and walk for most of the shift, and move quickly to codes.
Push ventilators and oxygen cylinders, and do chest compressions.
With or without reasonable accommodation.
8. Work Environment and Schedule
[12]-hour shifts with call for nights and weekends: [schedule].
Exposure to airborne infectious disease and aerosol-generating procedures, with fit-tested respirators provided.
Work across the ED, inpatient unit, swing beds and outpatient testing.
9. Compensation and Benefits
Pay: [range and hourly or salary basis].
Additional pay: [overtime, bonus or incentive terms, or none].
Benefits: [health, dental, vision, retirement, paid time off, and when they start].
10. Company Culture and Overview
[Two or three sentences on what your company does, the area you serve, and the support a new respiratory therapist gets in the first 90 days.]
11. How to Apply
[Apply link or email]. Our process: [phone interview, in-person interview, and next steps]. Contact [hiring contact] if you need an accommodation during the application process.
Need help filling this role? HireBus posts the ad, Iris interviews every applicant by phone before you do, and you decide who to hire. Start hiring now
What changes for a respiratory therapist in a critical access hospital
A large hospital has several RTs per shift, often split by unit. Here one RT may be the only airway and ventilator expert on site, and on some nights the RT is at home until paged.
The license rests on an NBRC credential
NBRC says 49 states regulate respiratory care, and its CRT or RRT credential is the basis for licensure in all of them. Some states ask for more. California requires the RRT, a CoARC-accredited program, at least an associate degree and an approved law and ethics course, though a CRT earned before 2015 still counts there. Check your state's rule before you accept a CRT. Source: California Respiratory Care Board: License requirements.
Ventilated patients wait here for a bed
A patient intubated in the ER may wait hours for a bed and a flight to a larger hospital. Until the crew arrives, the RT manages the ventilator or BiPAP, works with the provider on the plan, and readies the patient for the crew's equipment. Hire an RT who has kept a vented patient steady without a doctor at the bedside the whole time.
One pager, every emergency
Codes, rapid responses, trauma activations and ER shortness-of-breath calls all page the same person. A treatment round on the unit stops when the ER calls. Agree in writing on who manages an airway in the minutes before the RT arrives, above all on nights when the RT takes call from home.
A transfer can take the RT along
When a ventilated patient leaves by ground ambulance, the crew may need an RT to ride along. That can leave the hospital with no RT for hours. Decide ahead of time who goes, who gets called in to cover, and how the ride and the time away are paid.
Cross-training fills the quiet hours
Between calls, RTs here often run EKGs, lung function tests or sleep studies. NBRC offers specialty exams for some of that work, including pulmonary function and sleep. It also has an adult critical care exam for RTs who have held the RRT for at least a year. If those tests are part of your job, a candidate who holds one of these credentials can start on them sooner. Source: NBRC: Adult Critical Care Specialty (ACCS) examination.
How much hospital respiratory therapists make
Respiratory therapists who work for general medical and surgical hospitals earned a median of $39.78 an hour ($82,730 a year) in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s about the same as the $82,280 median for respiratory therapists in all industries. About 103,830 of the 139,790 respiratory therapists in that survey work for general hospitals.
Hourly, with night and weekend differentials, a standby rate for home call and call-back pay when paged in. RTs compare call pay closely, so state all three in the offer.
General hospitals
$82,730$82,730 median Middle half $75,640–$99,320 10th–90th $64,270–$117,190
All industries
$82,280$82,280 median Middle half $74,520–$98,730 10th–90th $63,660–$118,050
$50k$60k$70k$80k$90k$100k$110k$120k$130k
10th–90th percentileMiddle halfMedianAnnual pay, May 2025. Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics.
Annual pay by percentile
Group
10th
25th
Median
75th
90th
General hospitals
$64,270
$75,640
$82,730
$99,320
$117,190
All industries
$63,660
$74,520
$82,280
$98,730
$118,050
These figures cover general medical and surgical hospitals of every size. Rural hospitals often pay less than city hospitals. Post a real range for your market in the ad.
Skills to hire for, and what you can teach
Hire for these
Manages ventilators and BiPAP for critical patients with no intensivist nearby
Stays steady at codes and hard airways and speaks up to the team
Assesses breathing and response to treatment, and reports changes fast
Draws and runs arterial blood gases accurately
Moves between ER, unit and swing bed patients without losing track
Teach these on the job
Your ventilator, BiPAP and high-flow models
Your respiratory protocols and order sets
EKGs, pulmonary function tests or sleep studies
Respiratory charting in your EHR
Handoffs to flight and ambulance crews
RTs here work with critical care and transport ventilators, BiPAP units, high-flow oxygen, a blood gas analyzer, end-tidal CO2 monitors and the airway supplies on each code cart. Candidates will ask which ventilator and BiPAP models you run, since a new model means training before the first solo shift.
The KPI lines come without numbers. Start with a few months of treatment times, page logs and vent check records, then set them with the CNO, keeping in-house shifts and home-call shifts apart.
Treatments given on schedule
Scheduled treatments charted within the window your policy sets, from the EHR's treatment record. Read missed ones next to that shift's codes and ER calls, since emergencies come first.
Response time to ED and code pages
Minutes from page to the RT's arrival, from the paging system and code records. Track in-house and home-call shifts apart.
Protocol compliance
A monthly sample of protocol patients, checked for whether assessments, changes and stopping points followed the approved protocol. The department lead or the medical director can do the review.
Ventilator checks completed
Ventilator checks charted at the interval your policy sets, from the EHR. With few vented patients a month, review each case instead of a rate.
Career path
Respiratory therapy studentDoes clinical rotations, often in a larger hospital's ICU.
Respiratory TherapistCovers codes, ventilators and treatments across the hospital.
Lead RT or cardiopulmonary managerRuns the department's schedule, equipment and protocols.
Critical care or transport RTMoves to an ICU or a flight team, often after earning the ACCS.
Both come from NBRC. Through 2026, passing its TMC exam at the low cut score earns the CRT. Passing at the high cut score, then the Clinical Simulation Exam, earns the RRT. In January 2027, NBRC moves to one Respiratory Therapy Examination, with a low cut score for the CRT and a high one for the RRT. NBRC's CRT-to-registry admission paths end December 31, 2026. After that, a CRT without the RRT needs at least an associate degree from a CoARC-accredited program to take the new exam.
How much does a hospital respiratory therapist make?
Respiratory therapists who work for general medical and surgical hospitals earned a median of $39.78 an hour ($82,730 a year) in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The middle half earned between $75,640 and $99,320 a year. Pay also depends on your local market, experience and overtime.
Can a respiratory therapist take call from home?
The template allows for call on nights and weekends. Set a response time in policy, decide how far away an RT on call may be, and make sure the ER provider and nurses can support an airway until the RT walks in. Track response times, and move to in-house nights if ER or ventilator volume outgrows call.
Which certifications should a rural hospital RT hold?
The template asks for BLS and ACLS, plus PALS and NRP where your hospital requires them. If you deliver babies, NRP matters, because the RT may be at the warmer for a newborn who needs help breathing. NBRC's adult critical care (ACCS) and neonatal and pediatric (NPS) specialty exams show deeper training.
Can an RT from a big hospital ICU do this job?
Often, with orientation. ICU RTs know ventilators well but may never have run a code as the only RT, worked the ER, or set up a patient for a flight crew. Ask about the last code where they managed the airway, pair them with a seasoned RT for several shifts, and go over home call rules early.
