Respiratory Therapy Program\

The Profession

Respiratory therapists are essential members of the modern health care team and work in collaboration with physicians and other health professionals in adult and newborn intensive care units, hospital emergency rooms, outpatient rehabilitation clinics, sleep-related breathing disorders clinics, and in the home. Program graduates are prepared to assess patients, develop a plan of care, implement therapy, evaluate its effectiveness and modify treatment as appropriate. Patients include critically or chronically ill individuals suffering from a variety of respiratory and cardiac problems. In addition to treatment, therapists perform various complex diagnostic and monitoring procedures to assist the physician in devising an appropriate care strategy. In the home, outpatient and community settings, respiratory therapists provide education to patients and families in the day-to-day self-management of chronic respiratory conditions such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD); tobacco cessation is an important aspect of these educational efforts.