Respiratory Therapy Bachelor's Degree (Degree Complete)

Respiratory Therapy or Respiratory Care is the treatment, management, control, diagnostic evaluation, and care of patients with deficiencies or abnormalities of the cardiopulmonary system, such as bronchitis, asthma, emphysema, and other forms of obstructive and restrictive diseases. The Respiratory Care Practitioner is a vital part of the medical team. They are among the first persons called to give treatment and care in emergency situations. Practicing under the direction of a physician, respiratory therapists assume primary responsibility for all respiratory therapeutic and diagnostic procedures. They evaluate and treat all types of patients, ranging from premature infants whose lungs are not fully developed to elderly people whose lungs are diseased. In clinical practice, many of their daily duties include:

Assessing lung and breathing disorders and recommending treatment methods; interviewing patients and doing chest physical exams; obtaining sputum specimens for analysis; drawing and analyzing arterial blood specimens; performing pulmonary function tests; providing complex therapy requiring considerable independent judgment such as managing ventilators and artificial airway devices; giving emergency care to patients who are victims of a heart attack, stroke, drowning, or shock; and educating patients and families about lung disease.

Respiratory Therapists are experts in aiding the breathing process through the use of oxygen and medical gases, humidifiers, aerosols, ventilators/life support systems, chest physiotherapy, cardiopulmonary resuscitation, and artificial airways. They maintain, assemble, sterilize, and test all medical and auxiliary equipment in these functions. Respiratory Care Practitioners work with patients in the hospital surgical and medical wards, emergency rooms, outpatient department, intensive care units, neonatal nursery, and skilled nursing facilities and in-home care.

Bachelor’s degree completion program is designed to help students with an Associate’s Degree in Respiratory Therapy:

• Advance as Respiratory Care practitioners
• Prepare to move into administrative or managerial responsibilities in their departments

For those focused on improving their knowledge as Respiratory Care practitioners, our curriculum includes coursework in advanced topics in Respiratory Therapy critical care including:

• Pharmacological and ventilator management of the critically ill patient
• Patient stabilization
• Patient transport
• Disaster preparedness
• Introduction to research techniques

The Respiratory Therapy Bachelor’s degree completion program is designed to prepare the practicing Respiratory Therapist for advancement into a supervisory or management position in the health-care field.