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VUMC
Nashville, Tennessee

Graduate Respiratory Therapist Pediatric $15K SIGN ON BONUS

Respiratory TherapistFull-Time

Compensation

Pay not listed

The week · per this posting · weekdays assumed

Ask the employer about the pay range, the work setting, call expectations and time off.

Posted 3mo ago

Job Description

Discover Vanderbilt University Medical Center: Located in Nashville, Tennessee, and operating at a global crossroads of teaching, discovery, and patient care, VUMC is a community of individuals who come to work each day with the simple aim of changing the world.

It is a place where your expertise will be valued, your knowledge expanded, and your abilities challenged. Vanderbilt Health is committed to an environment where everyone has the chance to thrive and where your uniqueness is sought and celebrated.

It is a place where employees know they are part of something that is bigger than themselves, take exceptional pride in their work and never settle for what was good enough yesterday. Vanderbilt’s mission is to advance health and wellness through preeminent programs in patient care, education, and research.

Organization: Peds Respiratory Care Job Summary: Performs routine respiratory care procedures in the acute care, critical care and outpatient environment; perform respiratory care assessments and diagnostic testing procedures associated with respiratory care under routine guidance..

Key Responsibilities

  • Initiates and maintains mechanical ventilation.
  • Provides education for patients and families.
  • The responsibilities listed are a general overview of the position and additional duties may be assigned. *

Night Shift

  • ** The sign-on bonus is not applicable to current full time VUMC staff or former staff who have worked full-time for VUMC in the past twelve months. Technical Capabilities:
  • Airway Establishing / Manual Resuscitation (Fundamental Awareness): Has limited experience, training, direct exposure, or past experience working with airway establishing / manual resuscitation.
  • Ventilator Management (Fundamental Awareness): -Has limited experience, training, direct exposure, or past experience working with respiratory patient assessment and evaluations.
  • Respiratory Therapeutic Procedures (Fundamental Awareness): Has limited experience, training, direct exposure, or past experience working with respiratory therapeutic procedures. Allied health is among the fastest growing occupations in healthcare today. This area can be defined as credentialed professionals who perform supportive, diagnostic, and therapeutic health care services to promote health and prevent disease in a variety of settings. These areas are crucial to Vanderbilt Health’s reputation for excellence in these areas that has made us a major center for patient referrals from throughout the Mid-South. Each year, people throughout Tennessee and the southeast choose Vanderbilt Health for their health care because of our leadership in medical science and our dedication to treating patients with dignity and compassion. Core Accountabilities: Organizational Impact: Delivers job responsibilities that impact own job area/team with some guidance. Problem Solving/ Complexity of work: Uses existing procedures, research and analysis to solve standard job related problems that may require some judgement. Breadth of Knowledge: Requires subject matter knowledge within a professional area to meet job requirements. Team Interaction: Individually contributes to project/ work teams. Core Capabilities: Supporting Colleagues: - Develops Self and Others: Continuously improves own skills by identifying development opportunities.- Builds and Maintains Relationships: Seeks to understand colleagues priorities, working styles and develops relationships across areas. - Communicates Effectively: Openly shares information with others and communicates in a clear and courteous manner. Delivering Excellent Services: - Serves Others with Compassion: Invests time to understand the problems, needs of others and how to provide excellent service. - Solves Complex Problems: Seeks to understand issues, solves routine problems, and raises proper concerns to supervisors in a timely manner. - Offers Meaningful Advice and Support: Listens carefully to understand the issues and provides accurate information and support. Ensuring High Quality: - Performs Excellent Work: Checks work quality before delivery and asks relevant questions to meet quality standards.- Ensures Continuous Improvement: Shows eagerness to learn new knowledge, technologies, tools or systems and displays willingness to go above and beyond. - Fulfills Safety and Regulatory Requirements: Demonstrates basic knowledge of conditions that affect safety and reports unsafe conditions to the appropriate person or department. Managing Resources Effectively:- Demonstrates Accountability: Takes responsibility for completing assigned activities and thinks beyond standard approaches to provide high-quality work/service. - Stewards Organizational Resources: Displays understanding of how personal actions will impact departmental resources. - Makes Data Driven Decisions: Uses accurate information and good decision making to consistently achieve results on time and without error. Fostering Innovation: - Generates New Ideas: Willingly proposes/accepts ideas or initiatives that will impact day-to-day operations by offering suggestions to enhance them.- Applies Technology: Absorbs new technology quickly; understands when to utilize the appropriate tools and procedures to ensure proper course of action. - Adapts to Change: Embraces changes by keeping an open mind to changing plans and incorporates change instructions into own area of work. Position Qualifications: Responsibilities: Certifications: Work Experience: Relevant Work Experience Experience Level: Less than 1 year Education: Graduate of an approved discipline specific program This role offers the opportunity to make a meaningful impact within Vanderbilt Health, supported by a comprehensive benefits package which may include health, disability, retirement and/or wellness offerings to enhance your well-being and professional growth. Vanderbilt Health is committed to fostering an environment where everyone has the chance to thrive and is committed to the principles of equal opportunity. EOE/Vets/Disabled. PEOPLE ARE AT THE HEART OF ALL WE DO. Our vision: The world leader in advancing personalized health. Our mission: personalizing the patient experience through our caring spirit and distinctive capabilities. Making Health Care Personal. We’re looking for like-minded individuals driven to make a difference. We invite you to explore careers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. At VUMC, we place a priority on designing with and for our patients and families. We value collaboration, embrace continuous learning and discovery, and seek to be a place where everyone has the chance to thrive. We’re the largest private employer in Middle Tennessee, with a growing team and expanding footprint in towns and communities across the region. We employ more than 28,000 people who work in inpatient and outpatient clinical care, research, and graduate medical education as well as critical supporting roles in administration, information technology and informatics, finance, legal and community affairs, communications and marketing, fund-raising, groundskeeping and facilities, and many more. Our growing health system has more than 1,700 licensed hospital beds at: Vanderbilt University Hospital Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt Vanderbilt Psychiatric Hospital Vanderbilt Stallworth Rehabilitation Hospital Vanderbilt Wilson County Hospital Vanderbilt Bedford Hospital Vanderbilt Tullahoma-Harton Hospital It’s also home to hundreds of outpatient clinic and surgical locations throughout the region. We serve our community with many unique and specialized services including the Level 1 Trauma Center, a highly experienced Transplant Center that does the most heart transplants in the world, a National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center, Lung Institute, Burn Center and many more. World-leading academic departments and centers make scientific discoveries, advance clinical care and train the next generation of health care professionals. Our robust research enterprise consistently ranks among the highest in the country as measured by peer-reviewed grant funding from the National Institutes of Health. We’re honored to be consistently considered among the nation’s best hospitals, including being nationally ranked in multiple medical specialties for treating the most complex conditions in adults and children by US News and World Report. Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt ranked as the No. 1 children’s hospital in the southeast in 2024. We support each other and encourage excellence among all who are part of our workforce. High-achieving employees stay at VUMC for professional growth, appreciation of benefits, and a sense of community and purpose. Join us in Making Health Care Personal.

Key Responsibilities

Perform routine respiratory care procedures, assessments, and diagnostic testing in acute, critical, and outpatient pediatric environments. Responsibilities include initiating and maintaining mechanical ventilation and providing essential education to patients and their families.

Requirements

Candidates must be a graduate of an approved discipline-specific program with less than one year of relevant work experience. Fundamental awareness of airway establishing, ventilator management, and respiratory therapeutic procedures is required.

Key Skills

Patient EducationRespiratory Assessment

Work-Life Balance Analysis

WeekdayDoc's proprietary algorithm rates Graduate Respiratory Therapist Pediatric $15K SIGN ON BONUS at VUMC a 7.2 out of 10 for work-life balance — classified as very good. This places the position in the top 5% in Respiratory Therapy — ranked against 3,889 active Respiratory Therapy listings on WeekdayDoc.

Respiratory Therapy Career Context

Of the 47 active Respiratory Therapy listings this role was benchmarked against, 2% are remote, 62% have no call, 51% require no weekends.

The cost-of-living index for Tennessee is 91.9 (US average = 100; BEA Regional Price Parities (2024)). 58.6% of Tennessee clinicians report burnout symptoms in WeekdayDoc's Burnout Index (2026-01 data).

Location & Logistics

Tennessee has no state income tax, which can significantly increase take-home pay compared to high-tax states.

Top Respiratory Therapist Jobs

35 matches · ranked by pay

Salary Distribution23 jobs · 21 employers

6
<$85k
4
$85k-95k
4
$95k-105k
7
$105k-115k
2
$115k+

Annual compensation range

Benefits & Perks27 jobs · 21 employers

401k / retirement match
85%
Sign-on bonus
33% this job
Loan repayment
15% this job
Relocation assistance
7%
PSLF eligible
7%

Share of similar jobs offering each benefit

#1

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$37.08-$55.62/hr
#2

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$35.94-$55.43/hr
#3

Respiratory Therapist II

$37.61-$55.27/hr
#4

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$35-$52.01/hr
+ 33 more · ranked by pay

Work-life snapshot

median 3.0this job 7.2
Among the best 10% of Respiratory Therapy listings for work-life

Listing-based score, 0–10, across 3,889 comparable listings. Shaded area = the share scoring below this one.

Living in Nashville

Typical 3-bedroom home value
$413k
Typical market rent
$1,834/mo
Metro price indexU.S. average = 100
96.3
State income tax
None
Sources & methodology

Sources: Zillow home values (Aug 2026), Zillow market rents (Aug 2026).

BEA 2024 · Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin, TN metro prices. Housing figures are city-level.

City-level figures. Not a cost-of-living guarantee.

VUMC logo

About VUMC

Hospitals and Health Care
Nashville, Tennessee
10,000+ employees

Benefits & Perks

Health insurance
Disability insurance
Retirement offerings
Wellness offerings
Sign-on bonus $15,000