| A Career in Respiratory Care |  |
Respiratory Therapists, under the direction of a physician will evaluate, treat and manage patients with breathing disorders and diseases. The types of patients they may treat or care for include some of the following: patients with asthma, emphysema, fibrosis, accident victims, heart attack victims, newborn infants and post-operative patients. The age range of patients can be from a premature infant to an elderly patient. The employment setting can also vary from a hospital to a patient’s home.
Employment Opportunities
Respiratory Therapists work in many different and challenging environments within the health care field. They can work in an acute care hospital, a sub-acute care facility, a rehabilitation center, home care environment or a physician’s office. The demand for Respiratory Therapists is high and the U.S. Department of Labor expects an increase in demand and level of growth greater than average for all occupations through the year 2008.
A few of the different types of jobs which Respiratory Therapists perform are listed below:
Education of family members and patients on how to manage, treat, and live with a pulmonary disease.
Management and care of patients with breathing disorders in a hospital, home or MD office.
Management of Respiratory Care Department daily activities and staffing.
Rehabilitating patients with newly diagnosed pulmonary disease.
Testing a patient’s lung status to determine initial disease or disease progression.
Qualifications needed to be a Respiratory Therapist
Students should have a strong math and science background to enter into respiratory therapy. Advanced math and science skills are required to complete the chemistry and physics associated with this field.
Prerequisites for the NVCC program include: Successful completion of BIO103 (General Biology or the equivalent) with a C or better and 2 years of Algebra at a high school or a college level.
Professional Organizations
The national professional organization for Respiratory Therapists in the is the American Association of Respiratory Care (AARC). The state association is the Connecticut Society for Respiratory Care (CTSRC). They both hold annual meetings and seminars to keep practitioners updated on their skills and knowledge of new procedures and treatments that are being used in the medical community.
For more information on Professional Activities or
information on the career of respiratory care, you can contact: (These
links will lead you off this site. nvcc makes no claims for the accuracy of these
sites and is not responsible for material maintained by other people and
organizations.)
http://www.aarc.org The American Association of Respiratory Care
http://www.ctsrc.org
The Connecticut Society of Respiratory Care
For more information
about the
Respiratory Care Program at NVCC contact:
Admissions
Phone Number: 203-575-8040
Email: nvcc@nvcc.commnet.edu
Program Director: Margaret Guerrera, BS, RRT
Phone Number: 203-596-8662
Email: mguerrera@nvcc.commnet.edu
Director of Clinical Education: Susan Anderson MS, RRT
Phone Number: 203-596-2129
E-Mail: sanderson@nvcc.commnet.edu
Naugatuck Valley Community College
750 Chase Parkway - Waterbury, CT 06708
(203) 575-8040 - nvcc@nvcc.commnet.edu