Respiratory Care Educational Preparation
The American Association for Respiratory Care (AARC), the National Board for Respiratory Care (NBRC), and the Committee on Accreditation of Respiratory Care (CoARC) share the goal of insuring that the respiratory care practitioner (RCP) entering the work force is fully qualified to meet the demands of employers and patients, regardless of the setting for the delivery of health care.
With the growth of managed care and increasingly aggressive efforts to curb health care costs, the scope of practice for RCPs has broadened and the need for practitioners to serve as members of multidisciplinary teams has accelerated. Both the Pew Health Professions Commission and the National Commission on Allied Health have identified expanded roles for allied health workers. For these reasons, we anticipate that the need for individuals with multiple skills will increase. RCPs will need to understand the systems approach to the organization and delivery of health care and be able to work collaboratively with other health care practitioners. Critical thinking and problem solving skills are mandatory for survival in this environment. Strong verbal and written communication skills are necessary when interacting with other members of the multidisciplinary health care team as well as with patients and their families. Such an expanded role will also require a broad educational background in English composition, communications, and interpersonal relations. Computer literacy will be especially important in this changing health care environment.
Job analysis research by the NBRC reveals that employers now expect higher skill levels from entry level practitioners. Additionally, the NBRC has noted diverging success rates on the entry level examination that directly correlates with the Respiratory Care educational level of the candidate. A technologically qualified practitioner who lacks the skills afforded by a broad education, is disadvantaged by the demands of our evolving health care system.
COARC proposes to its sponsors that new Essentials (Standards) include a minimum of an associate degree in Respiratory Care at the entry level. The NBRC fully supports the proposed increased entry level requirement. Therefore, the AARC, CoARC, and the NBRC support the minimum educational requirement for entry in the practice of Respiratory Care to become the completion of an accredited Respiratory Care program granting an associate degree or higher.