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Do you aspire to help people and make positive impacts on the lives of those in your community through a meaningful role in health care?

Well, you can breathe easy. Or, more to the point, help people breathe more easily - as a Respiratory Therapist.

And, if you're searching for the right place to train and learn to become a Respiratory Therapist (RT), Â鶹´«Ã½ has the right program for you, one that equips you through real-world training to serve in this critical health care role through a comprehensive skills foundation.

Don't just take our word, however. To get an all-inclusive, wide-ranging view of the field and Â鶹´«Ã½'s respiratory therapist program, we went to Eliazar Cosa, BS, RRT, Â鶹´«Ã½'s Director of respiratory therapist programs in Garden Grove, CA.

He details not only what makes respiratory therapy one of the hottest, fastest-growing fields in health care, but also dispels some of the common misconceptions of the field and states why Â鶹´«Ã½'s program is one of the best around.
 

Why Respiratory Therapy?

Cosa listed five qualities of being a Respiratory Therapist that has the field projected to grow by 19 percent through 2022, with even higher growth expected after that because of the increasing senior-citizen populations.

• Those passionate about helping others can feed those passions and gain much satisfaction from possessing the skills and knowledge to help and save lives.
• Flexible hours. For many RTs, three 12-hour days a week is full-time.
• Adrenaline rush, working in intense situations like emergency rooms and intensive care units.
• Full benefits, including health insurance, and retirement packages.
• People will always be sick and need help.

Misconceptions of Respiratory Therapy

Cosa also listed five common misconceptions of RT.

• RTs are lazy. Not true, Cosa said. "Although there is downtime, RTs that are proactive will always find a way to contribute to the department and overall needs of the facility, such as stocking and cleaning equipment, and assisting nurses and other areas."
• "Neb Jockeys: We just give breathing treatments." Nothing could be further from the truth, Cosa said, as RTs often find themselves in high-intensity situations like emergency rooms, intensive care units, and neonatal intensive care units.
• School is easy. Cosa said school is actually quite challenging and requires the commitment to do all that's necessary to understand respiratory theories and concepts and apply them appropriately.
• The field is over-saturated. Truth is, . It is, however, a competitive market, and personality is a key component when employers are looking for new hires.
• Sub-acute and long-term acute care are not real respiratory jobs. "Oftentimes, I hear students complain of sub-acute facilities and long-term acute care facilities as places where it's horrible and nasty," Cosa said. "This is a mindset of an individual who forgets that every patient is a human being needing our assistance. When we forget our purposes as RTs and seek the glamour of what we do, we tend to neglect patient care."

What makes Â鶹´«Ã½'s program stand out?

Finally, Cosa lists five more reasons that Â鶹´«Ã½'s Respiratory Therapy Associate of Applied Science degree stands out.

• We treat students as people seeking a prestigious career, not numbers trying to fill a classroom.
• We go above and beyond, offering students countless hours of tutoring and helping with resumes and interview skills after graduation, as they search for that first job.
• We are community focused and establish relationships with many community organizations such as the and California Society of Respiratory Care.
• We offer 900 hours of clinical experience.
• High pass rates, indicating the content taught and delivered is sufficient to meet the needs of the profession. In 2016, Â鶹´«Ã½ - Garden Grove has a pass rate of 96 percent for Certified Respiratory Therapists and 89 percent for Registered Respiratory Therapists.