Arrange a tour at an appropriate heath care facility. Career shadow a registered respiratory therapist to ascertain whether you are capable of performing the professional duties of a respiratory care practitioner. Critical thinking, interpersonal, communication, mobility and motor skills all play an important role in your qualifications.
Consider program costs. For example, tuition for in-state respiratory care students at Santa Fe College is roughly $86 per credit hour, and out-of-state students pay approximately $317 per credit hour. The entire program is eighteen months and 76 credit hours. You also pay for lab fees, textbooks, uniforms, a stethoscope, a CPR card, a hepatitis B vaccine and a national background screening.
Attend a group advisement session, if the college or university offers one, to help you complete the application process.
Enroll in school and begin taking the required prerequisite courses, which include human anatomy and physiology, college composition, intro to human medical science, statistics, a social or behavioral science such as psychology and one humanities course such as fine arts.
Complete the prerequisites and then ask the health science counseling office at your college for a respiratory application. To fill out the respiratory application, most schools require a specific minimum grade point average and completion of the prerequisites listed on the application.
Prepare for 18 months of complete dedication. The courses required for graduation are stringent and include classes such as respiratory pathophysiology and pharmacology, principles of respiratory care, clinical medicine, cardiopulmonary anatomy and physiology, clinical respiratory medicine, pediatric and neonatal respiratory care, intensive respiratory care and lab, respiratory care chemical analysis, and mechanical ventilators and lab.
Graduate with a degree in respiratory care, and submit an application on the National Board of Respiratory Care website to take the exam to become a certified respiratory therapist, or CRT. If you wish to advance your skills, work toward the registered respiratory therapist, or RRT, exam.