Program Code: 3310
Respiratory Care is a specialty that is instrumental in the diagnosis, treatment, management, and preventive care of patients of all ages with cardiopulmonary problems. These patients may suffer from a variety of acute and chronic respiratory conditions which may be life threatening or disabling, such as cardiac failure, asthma, pulmonary edema, emphysema, congenital defects, drowning, hemorrhage, shock, and trauma. Through proper respiratory care and management, many patients who might not have survived can now return to active lives.
The respiratory therapist is a life-support specialist. During emergency calls, which often are life or death situations, respiratory therapists are responsible for life support of the patient through airway management, artificial ventilation, external cardiac massage, and additional sophisticated emergency support measures. Respiratory therapists manage mechanical ventilators (machines that can provide all of the breathing for patients who can’t breathe on their own). Respiratory therapists must be proficient in many areas, including patient assessment, the administration of oxygen and therapeutic aerosols, cardiopulmonary resuscitation, mechanical ventilation, airway management, pulmonary function studies, blood gas retrieval and analysis and physiologic monitoring.
The Respiratory care Program at Santa Fe College (#200215) is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Respiratory Care (www.coarc.com) to award an Associate in Science Degree in Respiratory Care at its Northwest Campus. Commission on Accreditation for Respiratory Care 264 Precision Blvd., Telford, TN, (817) 283-2835.
The program prepares its graduates to take virtually all of the credentialing examinations offered by the National Board for Respiratory Care, and also provides a sound technical and theoretical base from which the student can have the educational advantage of lateral and upward mobility.