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Illness, injury, premature birth, and chronic respiratory conditions can impact individuals' ability to breathe, making respiratory therapists an invaluable part of the healthcare team. In this critical role, you'll be evaluating, diagnosing, and treating various breathing disorders.
Collaborating closely with physicians, you'll contribute to the development of treatment plans aimed at improving respiratory function, and your responsibilities will extend to monitoring the effectiveness of these treatments. Your treatment strategies may involve administering inhaled medications, utilizing therapeutic or life support equipment, or implementing a combination of therapies to address respiratory issues. Additionally, you'll play a vital role in patient and family education, providing crucial information on managing respiratory conditions.
Western's program offers a variety of instructional formats, including traditional, online, and blended courses, ensuring flexibility in your education. Graduates are required to pass an examination administered by the National Board for Respiratory Care, leading to the designation of Certified Respiratory Therapist (CRT). With the CRT credential, you become eligible to apply for a license to practice respiratory care throughout the United States. You can also pursue the Clinical Simulation Examination to achieve the designation of Registered Respiratory Therapist (RRT), further enhancing your qualifications and career prospects in the field of respiratory therapy.
You will hone your critical care skills by practicing life-saving respiratory interventions in our advanced Simulation and Extended Reality (XR) Labs. Discover the Simulation and XR Labs.
Watch a video to see why Western's Respiratory Therapy graduates love their jobs and recommend our program. Also check out this article about a recent Respiratory Therapy graduate, who’s excelling in her field.
To view the Respiratory Therapy program’s required disclosure on professional licensure, please click here.
Accreditation
After graduation, the student is qualified to take the Respiratory Therapist Multiple Choice Examination issued by the National Board for Respiratory Care (NBRC). Successful completion of this exam earns the graduate the entry level designation of Certified Respiratory Therapist (CRT) which is required for licensure in all states except Alaska and Hawaii. After earning the CRT credential students can go on to take the Clinical Simulation Examination which will earn them the title of Registered Respiratory Therapist (RRT).
The Respiratory Therapy program is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Respiratory Care (www.coarc.com), 264 Precision Blvd, Telford, TN 37690, phone 817-283-2835.
Success rates for both exams, as well as data on job placement are reported annually by the Commission on Accreditation for Respiratory Care (CoARC).
Program Number: 200365
CoARC accredits respiratory therapy education programs in the United States. To achieve this end, it utilizes an ‘outcomes based’ process. Programmatic outcomes are performance indicators that reflect the extent to which the educational goals of the program are achieved and by which program effectiveness is documented. To compare Western Technical College to other colleges in the country, follow this link to the CoARC website: https://coarc.com/students/programmatic-outcomes-data/.