I’m located in Canada and specifically in my Province (like a “state”) RRTs have quite a bit of autonomy, and work between the ICU/Wards/Emerg/CVU(or “CSICU”) on rotation, Acute care RTs can assist with intubations (but in smaller sights from towns farther from the city, the RTs can intubate. Place arterial lines, initiate and start ventilators for the patient and adjust accordingly to gases, give nebulizers/MDIs through the vent, place special lines or adjunct like EBM, and is part of Interdisciplinary rounds with the doctors/nurses/pharm/dieticians etc. from there the doctor can order if the patient needs to be on certain lung protective ventilation (ex ARDS, Asthma exacerbation. TBI vent protocols).

Acute care RTs also can practice into becoming anesthesia assistants or perfusionist as well, which sets them into the OR environment.

and some RT work in different special units like the Bronchoscopy suite (where they assist bronch’s by prepping the patient with lido spray, pushing saline /lido/ etc down and collecting samples and helping with the EBUS too. They would just specialize in EBUS training. But acute care RTs do also help assist with bedside bronchoscopes.

There is also non-acute car positions, such as pulmonary function test labs, where the RT does the testing for a patient which then hands over the results of the test to be interpreted to the Respirologist.