💡 Why it matters: Asthma, lung infections and other breathing problems affect millions of people, and patients on ventilators need expert care. Hospitals everywhere need specialists in breathing care.
🌍 Around the world
- United States: Jobs are projected to grow 9% from 2025 to 2035, much faster than average (US Bureau of Labor Statistics).
💰 What it can pay
🇳🇬 Nigeria
- Starting out
- ₦1.5M – ₦3M
- Mid-career
- ₦3M – ₦6M
- Senior
- ₦6M – ₦12M
≈ ₦250k – ₦500k a month mid-career. Indicative estimate by Incusim.
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
Indicative mid-career range (our estimate, not yet checked against an official source). Incusim estimate
🇺🇸 United States
Median pay; low and high are the 10th and 90th percentiles. US Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2025
🇨🇦 Canada
Registered respiratory therapist. Hourly wage low and high x 2,080 hours; Job Bank shows no national median.. Job Bank (Government of Canada), 2023-2024
Yearly pay before tax. UK, US and Canada figures come from the official sources named on each card. Nigeria has no official salary survey, so those are our indicative estimates. Real pay depends on the employer, the place, your skills and experience.
🛠️ What you actually do
- Test how well patients' lungs are working
- Give oxygen and breathing treatments
- Set up and look after breathing machines called ventilators
- Respond to emergencies when someone cannot breathe
- Teach patients how to manage asthma and other lung conditions
⚡ Skills you'll need
- Staying calm
- Attention to detail
- Using medical equipment
- Communication
- Teamwork
Get ready at school
🇳🇬 Nigeria
- No dedicated respiratory therapy degree: most people train as a nurse or physiotherapist, then gain experience in intensive care or lung clinics
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
- Healthcare science apprenticeship while working in an NHS respiratory department
- Start as a healthcare assistant and train up
🇺🇸 United States
- Hospital-based or community college programmes with supervised clinical hours
- Start as a respiratory therapy technician or health aide and study part time
🇨🇦 Canada
- Hospital-linked college programmes with clinical placements
- Related health care jobs, then apply to a respiratory therapy programme
🗺️ Your path to this career
- 1Study Biology, Chemistry and Mathematics at school
- 2Complete a respiratory therapy or related health programme
- 3Do supervised clinical placements in hospital wards and intensive care
- 4Pass the exam and get licensed or registered
- 5Work in a hospital, clinic or at patients' homes, and specialise
⏰ A day in the life
You begin on the children's ward and check a girl with asthma, listen to her breathing and give her a treatment. An alarm sounds in intensive care, so you go and adjust a patient's breathing machine with the team. Later you teach a patient how to use an inhaler.