Credentialed Practitioners

Credentialed Practitioners

Ongoing Excellence in Respiratory Care

NBRC Credentialed Practitioners: We are proud to dedicate this special section of our website just to you. Ensuring your continued competence requires keeping current with best practices and new developments in the field of respiratory care, and the NBRC is here to support you every step of the way.

Click or tap on a topic below for detailed guidance.

Credential Verification

A letter of credential verification can confirm the information on each credential you currently hold.

There are two ways you may request a letter of credential verification.

Please allow two days for online requests and 7-10 days for processing mailed requests. In addition to these time frames, please allow 5-7 business days for US mail delivery.

How to purchase a credential verification letter

Credential Maintenance Program

As a credentialed respiratory care practitioner, excellence defines you – and we know you are committed to providing the highest quality patient care throughout your career. To support you in doing so, we offer three options for maintaining your credential through our Credential Maintenance Program. These options are explained in the following video (and outlined below):

  • Option 1: Complete the quarterly assessment(s) for your credential(s) and, if needed, provide proof of completion of a maximum of 30 required hours of Category I Continuing Education (CE) acceptable to the NBRC, according to your assessment progress. Category I Continuing Education is defined as participation in an educational activity directly related to respiratory therapy or pulmonary function technology, which includes any of the following:
    • Lecture – A discourse given for instruction before an audience or through teleconference
    • Panel – A presentation of multiple views by several professionals on a given subject with none of the views considered a final solution
    • Workshop – A series of meetings for intensive, hands-on study or discussion in a specific area of interest
    • Seminar – An advanced study or discussion in a specific field of interest
    • Symposium – A conference of more than a single session organized for discussing a specific subject from various viewpoints and by various presenters
    • Online Education – Includes materials such as text, Internet or CD, provided the proponent has included an independently scored test as part of the learning package
  • Option 2: Retake and pass the respective examination for the highest credential you hold that is subject to the Credential Maintenance Program. You may retake an examination any time during the last year of your credential period. A new five-year period will begin on the date you successfully pass the examination.
  • Option 3: Pass an NBRC credentialing examination not previously completed to automatically extend the recredentialing period of all other NBRC credentials you hold for an additional five years (starting when you earn a new NBRC credential). As a result, all your NBRC credentials will have the same expiration date, allowing you to maintain all credentials simultaneously in the future.

This program does not affect credentials achieved before July 1, 2002. For example, if you earned your NBRC credentials before July 1, 2002, and then you later passed a different NBRC credentialing examination after July 1, 2002, you would only be required to participate in the Credential Maintenance Program for the credential(s) achieved on or after July 1, 2002.

It is the mission of the NBRC to protect and enhance patient lives by promoting excellence in respiratory care.When you choose to submit your annual fee, you are not only demonstrating your commitment to the profession, you are also investing in our newest practitioners as they launch their careers.

Your annual fee helps maintain the costs of credentialing examinations, fund action for patient advocacy, fund research necessary to keep the credentialing system viable, and remains an important part of continued growth targeted at promoting the profession.

Whether you submit your annual fee for credential maintenance or to support the NBRC, this is another way to let excellence define you as a credentialed respiratory care practitioner. We encourage you to set a goal for submitting your annual fee every year.

Visit the NBRC Practitioner Portal

We want to make your experience with the NBRC as seamless and smooth as possible. One way we do this is by providing secure access to our portal for credentialed practitioners.
From our Practitioner Portal, you can:

  • Pay your annual NBRC fee
  • Enter your continuing education information for maintaining your credential
  • Order credential verification letters
  • Purchase NBRC badges of distinction: pins and wallet cards
  • Update your contact information with the NBRC

You have your credentials…now what?

How to use the candidate/practitioner dashboard

Directory of Credentialed Practitioners

As a credentialed practitioner, you have access to the Directory of Credentialed Practitioners, which allows you to search for credentialed colleagues across the country.

Member Directory

Order Pins, Wallet Cards and Replacement Certificates

Through our Practitioner Portal, you can order pins, wallet cards and replacement certificates available exclusively to NBRC credentialed practitioners.

Demonstrating Excellence through Specialization

As an NBRC credentialed respiratory care practitioner, you serve a vitally important role – one that saves and improves lives. To continuously advance your career opportunities within the profession, we offer specialty credentials in the following areas of respiratory care:

  • Adult critical care
  • Neonatal/pediatric respiratory care
  • Sleep disorders testing and therapeutic intervention
  • Pulmonary function technology
  • Asthma education

Specialty credentialing helps you maintain control over your career, signaling to employers and colleagues that your skills are highly specialized and your knowledge and expertise is current in multiple areas of respiratory care. Becoming a respiratory care practitioner with specialty credentials can help you attain better jobs with higher salaries at higher quality institutions.

NBRC credentialed practitioners become eligible to apply for specialty credential examinations three months to one year after earning the RRT or CRT credential (actual time frames vary by current credential and desired specialty credential).

Benefits of specialty credentials

Candidate Handbook

We developed the Candidate Handbook to help you apply and prepare for NBRC credentialing examinations, including specialty credentialing exams. The Candidate Handbook contains the NBRC’s admissions and examination policies, applications for testing, and other important information about the content of the respective examinations. These materials in no way substitute for a thorough education or your commitment to study, but they can help you increase your confidence and ability to perform well on the examinations.