Responsibilities:
– Performs pulmonary-function, lung-capacity, diffusion capacity, and blood-and-oxygen tests to gather data for use by physician in diagnosis and treatment of pulmonary disorders: Confers with patient in treatment room to explain test procedures.
– Explains specified methods of breathing to patient and conducts pulmonary-function tests, such as helium dilution and pulmonary mechanics, arterial blood gas analyses, and lung-capacity tests, such as vital capacity and maximum breathing capacity tests, using spirometer or other equipment.
– Measures expired air, using various analyzers.
– Observes and records readings on metering devices of analysis equipment, and conveys findings of tests and analyses to physician for interpretation.
Required Skills and Abilities:
– An associate degree in respiratory therapy from an accredited program.
