What Respiratory Therapists Do After Graduating From Respiratory Therapy Schools?

By John Nguyen


The ability to breathe is one often taken for granted by majority of people. However, for some even this capacity is lacking. Due to a variety of lung-related disorders some people must be rehabilitated on how to breathe. The people who do this for a living are known as respiratory therapists and they graduate from respiratory therapy schools.

Therapists are responsible for a few things. The duties they have include counseling, examining patients, diagnosing patients, collecting data and storing it and even monitoring patient progress. They have the additional responsibility of prescribing medication.

To qualify as a respiratory therapist, you must enroll at a school. The basic prerequisite for this is an associate degree. Ideally, one should have a bachelor degree or even masters. There are colleges, universities, medical schools and vocational schools that can provide the training.

The courses taught include anatomy, microbiology, physics, chemistry, mathematics and pharmacology in addition to other therapeutic and diagnostic courses. However, for the graduates to be licensed to practice, they must graduate from programs accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs (CAAHEP) or Committee on Accreditation for Respiratory Care (CoARC).

Respiratory schools are not immune to the advent of online instruction and as a result there are many online schools offering associate and bachelor degrees in respiratory therapy. Though the programs are definitely more convenient for the students, they may not have the practical component required for the professionals. Also, students have to keep in mind that the programs must be accredited.

Just because respiratory programs are widely available does not mean one should be hasty to enroll. One must be circumspect in selecting the programs. It is important to evaluate the school using a number of guidelines first. The initial concern is of course if the school is indeed CAAHEP/CoARC compliant.

Other concerns the students may have are the availability of student aid and financial loans and whether the school actively helps students benefit from the chances. Additional factors include the student-teacher ratio and how successful graduates from the university are. Any placement programs the schools may have would be quite useful too.

In order to be employable the therapist must have at least an associate degree in respiratory therapy. Some employers also need a cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) certification as well. For those who desire either supervisory or intensive-care positions, they must add a Registered Respiratory Therapist (RRT) qualification by undertaking certain advanced programs and doing two examinations. Thus it is evident that nobody who goes to respiratory therapy schools has wasted their time.




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