Respiratory therapy programs require an introductory class that teaches the principles of the field. Students learn about the history and development of the practice of respiratory therapy and learn its terminology. They receive in-field experience by shadowing and observing respiratory therapists in the areas of basic care and patient history. Students learn the fundamentals of cardiopulmonary anatomy and physiology, cardiopulmonary diseases and respiratory pharmacology. General courses for beginning respiratory therapy students can include English, biology, psychology, speech, humanities, sociology and health care.
Students learn to take advanced patient histories and learn the most specific questions to ask a patient in order to make a diagnosis. Students learn to conduct basic respiratory exams as well as chest exams. They learn about respiratory diseases and their treatments, hospital orientation, anatomy and physiology, cardiopulmonary pathology and the respiratory-pulmonary system. Students also learn about neonatal and pediatric respiratory therapy.
Respiratory therapy programs offer courses in which students learn about procedures of respiratory therapy such as oxygen therapy, airway management and how to best control infections. Advanced courses can include instruction about pressure-cycled ventilators, continuous mechanical ventilation, endotracheal intubation and cardiac life support. Students learn how to use each therapeutic technique and how to decide which technique works best for a given situation or illness. Students learn how to best treat patients in critical care. A mock clinic is sometimes part of the lab portion of the course, in which students determine the best method of care and treatment for a given circumstance or illness.
Students gain in-field experience by working with actual patients while under the supervision of teachers, doctors and healthcare professionals. Some schools require a clinical practice course throughout the respiratory therapy program at different points of the student's progress, while other schools require clinical practice near the end of the respiratory therapy program. Students take patient histories, diagnose patients and assign the best method of therapy for the given circumstance or illness. Some schools offer a class for the specific purpose of preparing for the written and clinical simulations of respiratory care that are part of the National Board for Respiratory Care exam.