How To Become A Respiratory Care Program Director: What It Is and Career Path

What is a respiratory care program director and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

The average respiratory care program director salary is $108,999. The most common degree is a bachelor's degree degree with an medical technician major. It usually takes 4-6 years of experience to become a respiratory care program director. Respiratory care program directors with a Certified Respiratory Therapist (CRT) certification earn more money. Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 28% and produce 136,200 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreRespiratory Care Program DirectorUS Average

Salary

7.8

Avg. Salary $108,999

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

7.1

Growth rate 28%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

3.7

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.72%

Asian 7.45%

Black or African American 12.78%

Hispanic or Latino 13.83%

Unknown 4.25%

White 60.98%

Gender

female 45.76%

male 54.24%

Age - 47

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 47

Stress level

7.1

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.8

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

4.9

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a respiratory care program director

Explore respiratory care program director education requirements

Most common respiratory care program director degrees

Bachelor's

38.0 %

Associate

36.0 %

Master's

21.5 %

Start to develop specific respiratory care program director skills

Skills	Percentages
Respiratory Therapy	11.04%
Patients	8.41%
Respiratory Care	5.52%
Performance Improvement	5.03%
BLS	4.90%

Complete relevant respiratory care program director training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New respiratory care program directors learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a respiratory care program director based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real respiratory care program director resumes.

Research respiratory care program director duties and responsibilities

Manage oxygen therapy, nebulizers, aerosol medications, etc.
Provide technical assistance and testimony for development and passage of legislation enabling implementation of Medicaid manage care.
Perform diagnostic testing, EEG's, PFT's, cardiac stress tests, ABG's and EKG's.
Maintain the ABG lab and bring the lab into compliance for JCAHO.

Get respiratory care program director experience

Generally, it takes 4-6 years to become a respiratory care program director. The most common roles before becoming a respiratory care program director include respiratory therapist, staff therapist team lead and respiratory supervisor.

Prepare your respiratory care program director resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your respiratory care program director resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a respiratory care program director resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable respiratory care program director resume templates

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