Respiratory Therapist Series, 0651

Individual Occupational Requirements

Specialized Experience

For positions at GS-4 and above: Qualifying specialized experience must have demonstrated a knowledge of basic equipment used in respiratory therapy and included duties such as:

• Making regular rounds on hospital nursing units to review or collect clinical data to insure that the respiratory equipment is operating properly and in compliance with physicians' orders.
• Transporting, setting up, or testing the operation of and changing simple oxygen administering devices, e.g., masks and nasal cannulas with cylinder or centralized medical gas systems.
• Disassembling, cleaning, assembling, and sterilizing reusable respiratory equipment such as oxygen analyzers and regulators, including recognizing and reporting variations from expected results.

Examples of qualifying experience include work as a practical nurse, nursing assistant, medical machine aid, medical technician, or respiratory therapy aid if the above duties were performed.

OR

Education and Training

For GS-4: Successful completion of a 2-year accredited course of study leading to an associate's degree in respiratory therapy.

For GS-5: Successful completion of a full 4-year course of study leading to a bachelor's degree in respiratory therapy.