Glossary
Respiratory Therapist Terms & Vocabulary
15 essential respiratory therapist terms with plain-English definitions: the vocabulary you’ll hear in training and on day one.
Key respiratory therapist vocabulary
These 15 terms come up constantly in respiratory therapist training, on the job and in interviews. Knowing them helps you follow instructions, document accurately and sound prepared.
- ABG
- Arterial blood gas: a test of oxygen, carbon dioxide and pH in arterial blood.
- BiPAP
- Bilevel positive airway pressure: noninvasive support with two pressure levels.
- Capnography
- Monitoring exhaled carbon dioxide.
- COPD
- Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, including emphysema and chronic bronchitis.
- CPAP
- Continuous positive airway pressure, often for sleep apnea.
- Extubation
- Removing the breathing tube.
- FiO2
- The fraction of inspired oxygen delivered to the patient.
- Intubation
- Placing a breathing tube into the trachea.
- MDI
- Metered-dose inhaler.
- Mechanical ventilation
- Using a machine to support or replace breathing.
- Nebulizer
- A device that turns liquid medicine into a mist to inhale.
- PEEP
- Positive end-expiratory pressure: pressure kept in the lungs at the end of exhalation.
- Spirometry
- A test that measures how much and how fast a person can exhale.
- SpO2
- Oxygen saturation measured by a pulse oximeter.
- Tidal volume
- The amount of air moved in one breath.
Practice these terms
Test yourself with the free Respiratory Therapist practice test: it includes vocabulary questions built from this list. For a complete course, see Respiratory Therapist training.
Browse terms from every career in our career glossary.