Respiratory Therapist

About the role

Join Allina Health as a Respiratory Therapist, where you'll play a crucial role in our Respiratory Therapy team. Your expertise will be essential in addressing patient needs and facilitating a seamless healthcare experience. Your commitment and collaboration are key to delivering exceptional care at Allina Health.

Responsibilities

• Assesses, diagnoses and treats patients suffering from cardiopulmonary respiratory disorders.
• Under the direction of a physician, educates patients and staff regarding chronic and acute pulmonary disorders, provides consultative services to area hospitals/agencies, and provides technical and educational support to nurses regarding respiratory procedures.
• Provides respiratory assessment and therapeutic intervention.
• Identifies opportunities to improve outcomes by utilization/recommendation of appropriate therapies or interventions.
• Applies knowledge of approved protocols and clinical indications for interventions and routinely applies protocols to progress patients appropriately.
• Communicates with the care team to ensure exchange of essential information.
• Demonstrates competency with operation and troubleshooting of equipment used for therapy.
• Provides for safe/effective management and monitoring of all forms of mechanical ventilation.
• Provides mechanical ventilatory support safely and effectively to meet objectives identified by the provider and/or protocols.
• Demonstrates competency in operation and troubleshooting of ventilators.
• Identifies best mode of ventilation and opportunities to optimize patient-ventilator interface, makes recommendations to provider as appropriate.
• Assesses readiness to wean, recognizes failure to wean and documents findings.
• Provides invasive and non-invasive ventilation, ventilation during transport, manual resuscitation by bag/valve device, weaning assessment, respiratory mechanics and waveform analysis, non-traditional modes and techniques.
• Manages airway appropriately to include positioning, securing, humidification selection and suctioning.
• Negotiates decisions within own scope of practice and in the best interest of the patient.
• Collaborates with nurses and providers to assure respiratory goals are not in conflict with other aspects of patient care.
• Provides disease management education to patients and families.
• Recognizes opportunity to increase patient knowledge of disease management and/or coping skills.
• Reinforces positive patient behaviors and skills during treatment interactions.
• Possesses and shares knowledge of asthma self-management and COPD education.
• Educates patient on inhaler techniques, peak flow monitoring asthma and COPD education to achieve patient compliance for self-administration.
• Educates patient on diaphragmatic and pursed lip breathing techniques to alleviate dyspnea.
• Completes necessary tests to assist in the medical management of the patient.
• Demonstrates competency in technique and technology to meet standards.
• Possesses clinical knowledge of interpretation of results and acts accordingly.
• Complies with policy and procedure as well as processing of report.
• Other duties as assigned.

Requirements

• Associate's or Vocational degree from a Commission on Accreditation for Respiratory Care (CoARC) accredited Respiratory Care Program
• 0 to 2 years in a critical care setting
• Preferred: Bachelor's degree from a CoARC accredited Respiratory Care Program or other health science related program
• 0 to 2 years as a Respiratory Therapist
• Licensed Respiratory Therapist - MN Board of Medical Practice required based on location of employment
• Licensed Respiratory Therapist - WI Dept of Safety & Professional Services required based on location of employment
• Current BLS certification from the American Heart Association
• Current BLS certification from the American Red Cross
• Allina in-house BLS training (within 30 days of hire)
• Current ACLS certification from the American Heart Association
• Current ALS certification from the American Red Cross
• Allina in-house ACLS training (within 180 days of hire)
• PALS - Pediatric Advance Life Support - Multisource required at sites providing pediatric care within 180 Days
• NRP - Neonatal Resuscitation - Multisource required at sites providing neonatal care within 180 Days
• Credentialed by the National Board of Respiratory Care preferred
• Physical Demands: Medium Work*

Qualifications

• Physical Demands: Medium Work*

Skills

• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills
• Strong problem-solving abilities
• Ability to work independently and as part of a team
• Knowledge of respiratory care principles and techniques
• Ability to manage time effectively and prioritize tasks

Benefits

• Medical/Dental PTO/Time Away Retirement Savings Plans Life Insurance Short-term/Long-term Disability Voluntary Benefits (vision, legal, critical illness) Tuition Reimbursement or Continuing Medical Education as applicable Student Loan Support Benefits to navigate the Federal Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program