Respiratory Therapy

The Respiratory Therapy Program is a competitve entry major and designed for students who have completed two years of pre-professional college work inclusive of general education and allied health core courses. Students must complete the general education requirements as outlined in the university catalog.The Bachelor of Science degree in Respiratory Therapy integrates cardiopulmonary didactic curriculum, laboratory courses, and clinical internship education necessary for the advanced respiratory care practitioner. 

Learn More About Applying to the Respiratory Therapy Program

Respiratory therapists provide care for patients with heart and lung problems such as asthma, chronic bronchitis, emphysema, cystic fibrosis and sleep apnea, but also those experiencing a heart attack or suffering a stroke. They perform diagnostic tests for lung capacity, administer breathing treatments, record a patient's progress and consult with physicians and surgeons on continuing care.

Program Goals

• Goal 1: To prepare graduates with demonstrated competence in the cognitive (knowledge), psychomotor (skills), and affective (behavior) learning domains of respiratory care practice as performed by registered respiratory therapists (RRTs).
• Goal 2: To prepare leaders for the field of respiratory care by including curricular content that includes objectives related to acquisition of skills in one or more of the following: management, education, research, advanced clinical practice. 

  This profession ranked #21 in "The 100 Best Jobs" and #16 in "Best Health Care Jobs" by U.S. News & World Report for 2018.

The Respiratory Therapy program (#200398) is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Respiratory Care: www.coarc.com 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. The programmatic outcome is available through CoARC's outcomes webpage: https://coarc.com/students/programmatic-outcomes-data/ 

Programmatic outcomes data reported on the CoARC website include:

• 3 year time period being reported
• RRT credentialing success
• Achievement of the high cut score on the TMC Exam (beginning 2018)
• Job placement
• Overall graduate satisfaction
• Overall employer satisfaction
• Total number of program enrollees
• Total number of program graduates
• Maximum annual enrollment

East Tennessee State University is a public institution governed by its Board of Trustees.
East Tennessee State University is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) to award baccalaureate, master’s, education specialist, and doctoral degrees.Degree-granting institutions also may offer credentials such as certificates and diplomas at approved degree levels. Questions about the accreditation of East Tennessee State University may be directed in writing to the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges at 1866 Southern Lane, Decatur, GA 30033-4097, by calling (404) 679-4500, or by using information available on SACSCOC's website (www.sacscoc.org).