What it’s about:

This major trains you to work with physicians, nurses, and other health care professionals in the diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of patients whose heart, circulation, or lungs are functioning abnormally. Working mostly in hospitals, respiratory therapists manage the ventilation of critically ill patients, or provide immediate and long-term care to patients with breathing disorders.

What the study of this major is like:

Respiratory therapists typically treat patients of all ages on all floors, in the emergency room, in clinic-in short, all over the hospital. They may attend to premature new born; heart attack, stroke, drowning, or shock victims; and older patients with chronic diseases such as emphysema or asthma.

Respiratory therapists often deal with high-stress situations, working in intensive care units and participating in all cardiac resuscitations (“Code Blue”). They work with a variety of medical professionals and assist with other cardiac procedures such as pacemaker insertions, cardiac catheterization, and cardio version. Besides hospitals, respiratory therapists can be employed in patients’ homes, long-term-care facilities, diagnostic labs, and rehabilitation and educational facilities. And although sleep disorders have only recently become widely known, over half the professional staff in sleep labs now are respiratory therapists.

As a respiratory therapy major, you must fulfil general education requirements, including college algebra, chemistry, physics, English, computer and information literacy, communications, and social science (psychology or sociology). In the major, you take courses in anatomy, physiology, microbiology, pharmacology, diseases of the heart and lungs, and medical terminology, as well as technical courses that deal with procedures and clinical tests.

After examining the way the heart and lungs function, learning how to evaluate their condition, and determining which injuries, diseases, and disorders can seriously threaten cardiopulmonary (heart and lung) function, you are taught how to treat patients who have problems with their breathing and circulation. You gain practice in administering medications and using techniques and equipment (gases, humanity, equipment, function and sterilization, arterial puncture and blood gas analysis, expansion therapies) to improve oxygen delivery to vital organs. You also spend time in hospitals applying what you have learned and providing patients care under supervision.

The program features lectures, laboratory work, and clinical practice. You learn theory in class, have hands-on experience with equipment in a laboratory setting, and then practice direct patient care under the super vision of faculty. Observing and caring for critically ill patients can be stressful and requires maturity. You will also have to adapt to the rigorous course work and the hours you must spend in the laboratory and clinical settings. You will be doing patient care during actual shifts, which are usually 12 hours long and may include afternoons and nights. You should therefore plan to attend classes, labs, and clinical courses full-time. As a result, you may not be able to have a job in addition; try to save money for your education before you enroll.

Respiratory therapy programs vary in length as well as in the degree or credential that graduates earn. Some programs offer two-year associate or four-year bachelor’s degrees, preparing you for a career as a registered respiratory therapist (RRT). Shorter programs offer certificates and prepare you for work as an entry-level certified respiratory therapist (CRT).

Career options and trends:

Respiratory therapist*; advanced-practice respiratory therapist; polysomnography technologist (sleep tech); cardiac ultrasound technician; perfusionist (operates bypass during heart surgery).

You must pass the NBRC examination to become a certified respiratory therapist, which allows you to practice as a CRT in every state that requires a license.

Respiratory therapists are employed in acute care hospitals, long-term care facilities, home health care, equipment and pharmaceutical sales, education, sleep laboratories, and health promotion. Employment forecasts for RTs indicate a continuing need for more therapists for the next decade or so. Therapists wit cardiopulmonary care skills, or experience working with newborns and infants, will be especially in demand.

Source: CollegeBoard 2012 Book of Majors