Spring Break
Respiratory care: a rising medical career
SONIA TREVIZO
News Writer
Issue date: 11/8/07 Section: News
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Respiratory care is an allied health specialty concerned with the treatment, management, control and care of a patient's breathing.
A respiratory care practitioner is a specialist who uses therapeutic and evaluation techniques in respiratory care.
National Respiratory Care Week is an annual event in which RCPs are recognized for their role in lung health.
While this profession is expanding, it is not as well known as other health care professions.
Jeff Anderson, director of Clinical Education at Boise State University, believes National Respiratory Care Week had a good turnout this year, considering how low-profile the profession is on campus.
It might be a shock to know BSU has one of the highest ranked respiratory care programs in the nation. In 2005, six BSU students were recognized with the Respironics Award for research in mechanical ventilation. Normally this award is given to experienced researchers with years of RC background. The Department of Respiratory Care is gaining international acclaim though Chairman Lonny Ashworth's work on the International Respiratory Care Committee of the American Association for Respiratory Care. The department also boasts having a history of international students from countries such as Japan, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.
The department's mission is to provide excellent Respiratory Care education though a combination of classroom and lab instruction and instruction in the local hospitals in order to provide students with a well-rounded knowledge of respiratory therapy.
According to BSU junior Tate Hansen, the Respiratory Care Department does an excellent job of fulfilling the
mission.
"You get clinical experience right off the bat," Hansen said. "To me what makes the program so great is the instructors. We have tremendous instructors and they are fully committed. They are 110 percent dedicated in making us successful and making sure that we can do our job when it comes to it."
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