Respiratory Therapist Interview Questions and Answers

Respiratory therapist interviews test clinical judgment on ventilators, airways and deteriorating patients, your communication with physicians and nurses when a patient is failing, and how you hold up through a long shift of codes and rounds. Expect scenario questions where the interviewer wants to hear your assessment before your intervention. The acute-care and transport side overlaps with the questions in interview help for paramedics and EMTs, and the ward side with nursing interview questions. This page gives 10 questions with what a strong answer contains, 3 sample answers you can adapt, a table of the rounds to expect, and a practice plan for the week before.

What the interview looks like

Respiratory therapist interview questions and what strong answers contain

1. Why respiratory therapy? A real reason and what keeps you in it; see why healthcare for structure.
2. A ventilated patient's peak pressures suddenly rise. What do you do? Assess: patient, circuit, tube; DOPE (displacement, obstruction, pneumothorax, equipment); manual ventilation if needed; call for help early.
3. Interpret this ABG. State the acid-base status, compensation, oxygenation, and what you would do; say your reasoning aloud.
4. How do you approach weaning and extubation readiness? Protocol criteria, SBT, airway assessment, communication with the team, post-extubation plan.
5. Describe a code you were part of. Your role, what went well, what you would change; keep it specific and calm.
6. How do you handle a physician order you believe is unsafe? Clarify, cite evidence or protocol, propose an alternative, escalate, document.
7. How do you prioritize when several patients need you at once? Airway and oxygenation first, then time-sensitive treatments, delegate and communicate waits.
8. How do you educate a patient or family on a new device? Teach-back, plain language, written instructions, follow-up.
9. Tell me about a conflict with a nurse or colleague. The issue, the conversation, the resolution, the working relationship afterwards.
10. What ventilator modes and devices have you worked with? Honest list with context: ICU, NICU, transport, home care; what you want to learn.

Sample answers

A ventilated patient's peak pressures suddenly rise. What do you do?

I look at the patient first, then the circuit, then the tube. Is the patient fighting the vent, are breath sounds equal, is the tube at the same depth? I check for kinks and water in the circuit and suction if secretions are likely. If I cannot resolve it in moments, I disconnect and bag the patient while someone pages the physician, because a tension pneumothorax or a displaced tube does not wait for troubleshooting.

How do you handle an order you believe is unsafe?

I ask the physician to walk me through the reasoning, because sometimes I am missing context. If I still disagree, I say what I am worried about with the number or the protocol behind it and propose an alternative. If we cannot agree, I go up the chain and document. I have done this twice; once I was right and once I learned something.

How do you prioritize across several patients?

Oxygenation and airway first. If a nebulizer is due and another patient is desaturating, the nebulizer waits and I tell the nurse when I will be back. I ask for help early rather than running late everywhere, and I keep a running list so nothing is forgotten once the urgent patient is stable.

Mistakes to avoid

• Jumping to the intervention before describing the assessment.
• Describing a code as if you ran it alone.
• Vague ABG answers; interviewers want your reasoning out loud.
• Saying you never disagree with physicians.

A practice plan for the week before

1. Review ABG interpretation, ventilator troubleshooting and weaning criteria until you can talk through them without notes.
2. Write stories for a code, an unsafe order, a conflict and a prioritization crunch.
3. Run a mock interview with clinical scenarios and answer aloud, assessment first.
4. Confirm certifications and expiry dates for the screen.
5. Prepare questions about patient ratios, vent fleet, protocols and continuing education.

Where CoPilot Interview fits

CoPilot Interview is an AI interview assistant whose free AI mock interview builds respiratory therapist questions from your résumé and the job description, reads them aloud, scores each spoken answer out of ten and shows a model answer, which is the fastest way to turn the outlines above into answers that sound like you. The free plan gives 15 minutes a day of live help in sessions of up to 15 minutes, with AI mock interviews included. Most therapists use it to practice; if you ever consider live help in a video interview, follow your employer's rules.

Disclosure: CoPilot Interview is our product, so weigh what we say about it accordingly.

Frequently asked questions

What questions are asked in a respiratory therapist interview?

Why RT, ventilator troubleshooting, ABG interpretation, weaning and extubation, a code you were part of, unsafe orders, prioritization, patient education, conflict and your device experience.

How should I answer ventilator scenario questions?

Assess first: patient, circuit, tube. Name the differential, say when you would bag the patient and call for help, then the fix.

What certifications do interviewers ask about?

RRT or CRT, state license, BLS and usually ACLS; NRP or PALS for neonatal and pediatric units.

What do RT interviewers value most?

Calm assessment under pressure, early escalation, clear communication with physicians and nurses, and honesty about what you have and have not done.