Student Respiratory Therapist

Where are you in your respiratory care program, and which clinical skills do you feel most and least confident in right now?

What they are checking: Whether they know their own limits honestly, which matters when a student is giving care to real patients.

Tell me about a time in clinicals when you were unsure what to do. Who did you go to?

What they are checking: Whether they ask for help rather than guessing, which is the most important safety habit for a student.

How do you balance work shifts with your coursework and clinical rotations?

What they are checking: Whether they can show up reliably while still finishing the program they are enrolled in.

Tell me about a patient interaction that stuck with you and what you learned from it.

What they are checking: Whether they bring compassion and reflection to patient care, not just technical interest.

You're giving a treatment and the patient's oxygen saturation drops and their breathing gets worse. What do you do?

What they are checking: Whether they stop, stay with the patient and escalate quickly instead of finishing the task first.

How would you tell a nurse or physician that you think a patient's plan of care should change?

What they are checking: Whether they communicate concerns clearly and respectfully to the multidisciplinary team even as a student.

You get reassigned to a unit you've never worked on halfway through your shift. How do you get your bearings?

What they are checking: Whether they adapt to reassignment calmly and ask the right questions before starting care.

Walk me through how you'd give a nebulizer treatment from reading the order to documenting it.

What they are checking: Whether they follow the full sequence of order check, patient assessment, delivery and documentation.

What would you look and listen for to decide whether a treatment helped the patient?

What they are checking: Whether they can evaluate outcomes, which the posting lists, rather than just delivering the therapy ordered.

How would you teach a patient to use an inhaler correctly before they go home?

What they are checking: Whether they can give patient instruction in plain words and check that the patient actually understood.