Cleveland Clinic, well known for its contributions to medical science, innovative therapeutics and medical education, offers an exciting work environment for respiratory therapists. Cleveland Clinic respiratory therapists are considered part of a team whose practice model exemplifies unbounded collaboration between services. The Department of Cardiothoracic Anesthesia’s (CTA) respiratory therapists partner with the Institute's critical care medicine physicians, anesthesiologists, surgeons, certified nurse practitioners and nurses to deliver world-class care and service to all Cleveland Clinic’s perioperative patients requiring help.
CTA respiratory therapists have the unique opportunity to work almost exclusively in the intensive care setting, which presently includes a 55-bed cardiovascular intensive care unit (CVICU), one of the largest of its kind in the country, and an 18-bed surgical intensive care unit plus 36 post-anesthesia care unit (PACU) beds. The CVICU admits more than 3,500 post-cardiac surgical patients each year as well as many of the 1,400 general thoracic surgical patients operated on annually. This, along with Cleveland Clinic's surgical intensive care unit (SICU), and other critical care patient volume accounts for more than 25,000 respiratory care days each year.
