As a student in the Respiratory Care Program, you will engage in a variety of classroom and laboratory instruction on the Parkland campus, and clinical instruction in regional acute care hospitals, long term care facilities, outpatient clinics, and home care companies. Students from the Lake Land, Richland, Heartland, and Danville Area College districts will complete most of the clinical instruction at facilities and businesses within their home college district. Respiratory care students will learn to care for patients with chronic lung disease and acute illness or injury that compromises breathing.

students with respirator on mannequin

Respiratory Care

Where you’ll go:

As a respiratory therapist, you’ll perform diagnostic tests, provide treatment, and educate patients of all ages with a variety of respiratory illnesses or cardiopulmonary dysfunction. This career is in growing demand in the United States due to chronic lung disease being the fourth leading cause of U.S. deaths, advances in technology, and the aging population. Parkland graduates often begin working in a limited capacity while still in school, gaining valuable clinical experience.

Explore your career path at Be-an-RT.org

CoARC Accreditation

The Parkland Respiratory Care program (CoARC #200180) is accredited by Commission on Accreditation for Respiratory Care.

CoARC Programmatic Outcome Data

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.

Post-graduation Credentials

Graduates are eligible to complete the Therapist Multiple-Choice Examination to earn the Certified Respiratory Therapist (CRT) credential and the Registered Respiratory Therapist (RTT) credential upon successful completion of both the Therapist Multiple Choice Exam and the Clinical Simulation Exam. The CRT and/or RRT credentials are used as the basis for licensure in all 49 states that regulate the practice of respiratory care. Additional specialty credentials are available for neonatal-pediatric care (NPS), for sleep medicine (SDS), for diagnostics (CPFT, RPFT), and adult critical care (ACCS.)

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Practice in respiratory care requires a state license.

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