Lead Registered Respiratory Therapist

Department of Veterans Affairs•West Palm Beach, FL

51d•Onsite

About The Position

The Lead Registered Respiratory Therapist (RRT) at the West Palm Beach VA Medical Center Center serves as a senior member of the Pulmonary and Respiratory Therapy team, providing advanced clinical expertise, leadership, and coordination of daily operations with the respiratory care service. The incumbent ensures the consistent delivery of high-quality respiratory therapy in both inpatient and outpatient settings, including critical care, acute care, and specialty service clinics. The Lead Registered Respiratory Therapist demonstrates the knowledge and ability to successfully perform the following duties within the scope of Respiratory Care. A Respiratory Therapist-Lead may perform other duties, both major and minor, that are not mentioned below. Will have a great deal of independence in the performance of their duties. They will be the person in charge in the absence of the Chief or Supervisor and will have full responsibility to modify the workload to accomplish the assigned duties.

Responsibilities

Collect, review and evaluate relevant clinical data from the medical records, care team, patient and patient's family to ensure appropriate care when indicated.
Monitoring patients receiving mechanical ventilation, assisting with bronchoscopy, using techniques that include interpretation of clinical data, describing and interpreting arterial blood gas values and acid base balance.
Apply clinical expertise in such a manner as to upgrade patient care where indicated and assist the provider in formulating an appropriate respiratory care plan based upon patient assessment, history, lung auscultation, chest x-ray, pulse oximetry, etc.
Provide effective and relevant education to the patient, family, students, and facility staff when appropriate.
Perform both fundamental and advanced diagnostic procedures.
Perform both emergency and acute Respiratory Care procedures in accordance with departmental guidelines and industry standards.
Comply with all medical center policies and procedures regarding safety practices.
Maintain clinical and professional competency based upon established standards of practice.
Assembles, checks, and corrects malfunctions and performs quality controls on respiratory care equipment.
Participate in in-service education pertaining to respiratory therapy, maintaining a close relationship with other disciplines and students who may rotate through the health care facility.
Assign individual assignments based on patient acuity and staffing levels. Lead will be available to cover areas when needed and as indicated.
Responsible to perform chart audits, monthly documentation submission and perform In-service education as necessary.
Utilize VA systems to request repair and replacement of equipment through Information technology and Biomedical departments to ensure proper and timely replacement of supplies and/or repair of broken equipment and devices.