Respiratory therapist screening questions for healthcare staffing recruiters

A respiratory therapist screen has to separate three things: which NBRC credential the candidate actually holds (CRT or RRT are not interchangeable), whether they can manage the vent settings and patient acuity the job requires, and whether their setting experience matches the unit they would be placed in. The gap that costs the most on this desk is a CRT submitted against an RRT-only job order, or an adult ICU therapist submitted for a NICU vent role. This page gives you the credential checks, vent management questions with what a strong answer sounds like, and a knockout list built around what NBRC and state boards actually require.

It overlaps with nurse phone screen questions on shift and license verification structure, but the credential and clinical questions below are specific to respiratory care and do not carry over from a nursing screen.

Start with which NBRC credential the job actually needs

Before you ask a single clinical question, confirm whether the client's job order requires CRT or RRT. Some facilities accept either for staff positions; ICU, NICU and many travel contracts require RRT specifically. Submitting a CRT-only candidate against an RRT-required order wastes both sides' time, so this check comes before anything else.

Credential and license questions

The National Board for Respiratory Care (NBRC) is the sole issuer of the CRT and RRT credentials in the US.

• CRT (Certified Respiratory Therapist). Requires graduating from an entry-level respiratory therapy program, at minimum an associate degree, accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Respiratory Care (CoARC).
• RRT (Registered Respiratory Therapist). The advanced credential. One pathway requires holding a CRT for at least two years before applying for the RRT-level exams; many candidates now qualify for the RRT exams directly through their accredited program. Ask which pathway the candidate used, since it tells you how much bedside time they had before earning RRT.
• Credential validity. NBRC credentials issued since July 1, 2002 are valid for five years, after which the therapist must complete NBRC's continued competency requirements to keep the credential active.
• State licensure. The CRT and RRT credentials are the basis for licensure in 49 of the 50 states that regulate respiratory care. Alaska is commonly cited as the exception, though employers there still require the NBRC credential. Verify the state license separately from the NBRC credential; they are different records.

Source: NBRC, Certified Respiratory Therapist (CRT) and NBRC, Registered Respiratory Therapist (RRT) (as of September 2026). NBRC has also posted that it plans to retire the current Therapist Multiple-Choice (TMC) and Clinical Simulation Examination (CSE) structure for a single Respiratory Therapy Examination beginning in January 2027; if a candidate is mid-exam near that date, confirm which structure applies to them on NBRC's site rather than assuming.

Vent management and clinical questions with strong answers and red flags

1. "Walk me through how you'd adjust settings for a patient who is fighting the ventilator."
   • Strong answer: checks for a mechanical cause first (tube position, secretions, circuit issue) before adjusting sedation or mode, and can name specific settings they'd reassess (trigger sensitivity, flow, PEEP) rather than a vague "I'd adjust the vent."
   • Red flags: jumps straight to sedation as the answer, or cannot name a specific setting.
2. "Tell me about the last time you led an extubation. What told you the patient was ready?"
   • Strong answer: cites specific readiness criteria (spontaneous breathing trial results, hemodynamic stability, secretion management, mental status) and describes their role in the process.
   • Red flags: defers the entire decision to the physician with no description of their own assessment contribution.
3. "What's your process for a patient in acute respiratory distress who isn't yet intubated?"
   • Strong answer: describes an escalation sequence (oxygen delivery method, positioning, noninvasive ventilation trial, reassessment intervals) and when they'd call for intubation.
   • Red flags: a single step with no reassessment plan.
4. "How do you title a therapy differently for a NICU patient versus an adult?" (ask only if the role covers NICU)
   • Strong answer: names specific differences: smaller tidal volumes, different equipment (neonatal circuits, surfactant administration if applicable), and closer monitoring tolerances.
   • Red flags: answers as if adult and neonatal vent management are the same with smaller numbers.
5. "Describe a code you responded to and what your specific role was."
   • Strong answer: a specific, recent example with their own actions (airway management, bagging, intubation assistance) rather than a description of the team's actions generally.
   • Red flags: cannot describe a specific recent code, or describes only what others did.

Where respiratory therapist experience gets overstated

Setting and specialty fit

Respiratory therapy settings differ enough that a strong candidate in one can be a weak fit in another without any skill gap at all. Confirm which of these the candidate's recent experience actually covers:

• Adult critical care / ICU: ventilator management, hemodynamic monitoring collaboration, codes.
• NICU / pediatric: neonatal and pediatric vent settings, surfactant administration where applicable, family communication.
• Emergency department: rapid airway assessment, noninvasive ventilation initiation, high patient turnover.
• Pulmonary function / sleep lab: diagnostic testing rather than acute vent management; a very different day-to-day than floor staffing.
• Home care / DME: patient and family education, equipment setup, far less acute-care overlap.

Shift, call and contract terms

• Shift pattern: 12-hour rotations are standard in most hospitals; confirm day/night mix and weekend rotation.
• Call: some facilities require on-call coverage for codes or overnight coverage gaps; ask about frequency.
• Staffing ratio: how many vented patients a therapist typically covers per shift at their current facility, as a proxy for acuity.
• Contract terms: for travel and per diem roles, confirm cancellation policy tolerance and how many contracts they have completed without early termination.
• Float requirements: whether they float between adult and pediatric units, which affects how tightly you need to match specialty.

Knockout checklist and scoring

Lawful phrasing for respiratory therapist screens

This is physical, patient-facing work with real exposure risk, and it is easy to slide from job-ability questions into medical ones. The EEOC's guidance on pre-employment disability-related questions allows questions about the ability to do the job, not about medical conditions, before an offer.

A respiratory therapy desk often runs several screens back to back across different units and acuity levels, and it is easy to lose track of which candidate had NICU time versus adult ICU time. Interview Signal keeps a question guide on screen during the call and ticks off each one as it gets covered, so the credential and setting checks happen the same way every time.