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Benefits of Being a Traveling Respiratory Therapist

Several home health companies, including Apria, Lincare and Medical West, offer jobs for respiratory therapists. Working in a home health care setting provides an opportunity for therapists to travel to patients' homes, both delivering and setting up respiratory equipment. Choosing a job as a traveling respiratory therapist brings several benefits, including regular hours, varied settings and a slower working pace.

  1. Regular Working Hours

    • One of the benefits of working as a respiratory therapist for a home health company is the regular work schedule. Unlike the 12-hour shifts often required in a hospital setting, shifts for home health therapists are often eight hours long. Additionally, while many therapists starting out in a hospital must work night shifts, therapists who work in home health care have mostly daytime hours. The more regularly scheduled hours can be easier for a therapist with a family, or for those who would have physical difficulty working 12-hour shifts.

    Varied Settings

    • Home health companies often provide respiratory therapists an opportunity to travel to patients' homes, breaking out of the redundant setting of an office or hospital. Traveling therapists enjoy a varied setting and the freedom of being outside of a more confined environment. For those who dislike confinement and enjoy a variety of settings, traveling provides a major benefit.

    Slower Working Pace

    • Respiratory therapists who work for a home health company typically work with patients who have chronic illnesses. Their patients most often require routine respiratory equipment. In contrast, patients in hospital settings may be in more life-threatening situations. Therapists who do not enjoy the intense setting of a hospital will appreciate the slower-paced setting of home health care.

    Opportunity for Overtime

    • Though therapists who work in the home health industry enjoy regular working hours, they often have an opportunity for overtime. Many companies ask therapists to take part in a call schedule, so they can meet pressing patient needs after hours. Depending on the size of the company, therapists may have to be on call up to two days a week or more. This call schedule often provides home health therapists an opportunity to make extra money.

    Reasonable Pay and Benefits

    • Most home health companies provide competitive wages in comparison to one another and to hospitals. Additionally, these companies provide health care benefits for qualifying employees.

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