Online respiratory therapist degree

[Tristan14578]

Does anybody know much about this independent university respiratory therapist program. I called and they said its didactic is online and clinical’s are done at your local trauma center (750 hours). What do you think about this? My sister is considering this program but I wanted to check into it for her. It some what sounds like excelsior (witch is the nursing program I did) but without the clinical’s. the hospital I started at had me do a 8 month externship in witch I was grateful to do. Any takes on this school hear is the link. http://www.independence.edu/Programs/HSASRespiratoryTherapy.php

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[lancerdancer01]

Is there not a bachelors degree program near your area? I would recommend this because the program at Independence University requires 75 credits for the program and addtional 15 credits in prerequisits. This adds up to 90 credits. For only 30 more credits she could have a bachelors degree and be better prepared for life after college. There is also no chance for research, which is important for practicing clinicians. In my program we had over 1000 hours of clinical experience and I still didnt feel totally comfortable when I was on my own. I am against the associate degree programs for a couple of reasons. Many of the better hospitals in the country wont hire RRTs with an associate degree anymore because they feel that they are not as competent clinicians. Paying for an associates degree and ending up with 90 credits is cheating the student out of the extra 30 credits. Why not go for the bachelors degree for only 30 more credits? I am glad to hear your sister is interested in respiratory therapy and encourage her to go to a bachelors degree program and not only go into respiratory therapy because there are short programs out there because that is cheating herself out of an education and cheating the patients out of the best clinician possible.

 

[Tristan14578]

Their doesn’t seem to be any in her area. We spent today looking and could not find any. She is between excelsior nursing and the RT program. (she’s not to happy that the has to set up her own clinical spot if she agrees to the program though. )

 

[poresofkohn]

Many of the better hospitals in the country wont hire RRTs with an associate degree anymore because they feel that they are not as competent clinicians.

>
In my associates program, I had 1500 hours of clinical time. Link please for the above quoted. I've worked at many hospitals in many states, not one of them was concerned with my degree, only my credential.

 

[poresofkohn]

.................I still didnt feel totally comfortable when I was on my own. ............

>
If thats true, you graduated from a crappy program.

 

[lancerdancer01]

I know hospitals like Mayo Clinic, Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia, and even hospitals in Bismarck, North Dakota wont even look at an application unless the applicant has a bachelors degree. I am not saying that therapists that graduate from a bachelors degree are better than those from an associates. There are just more opportunities for graduates of a bachelors degree. They are usually the ones in management positions (not everywhere because there is such a shortage of thereapist). Plus if you are going three years to get an associates degree why not do an extra year and get the bachelors. If you want to go on further to med school, PA school, AA school you will need the bachelors. My program is one of the best in the country, our director of our RT department is a former president of the AARC, our program director wrote his own physiology book and is on CoArc and is well respected in the RT profession. Two of our instructors have Phd's and the other one has her masters so they are very well educated and are great teachers. The only areas I dont feel comfortable in are the ICU and NICU but I have at least two more weeks of clinicals in each rotation which will build up my comfort. The program the OP was talking about only had 750 hours of cliniclas which imo is not enough. Her orientation period would most likely be longer than that of a therapist who graduated from a program with more clinical hours.

 

[RAMPA]

I know hospitals like Mayo Clinic, Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia, and even hospitals in Bismarck, North Dakota wont even look at an application unless the applicant has a bachelors degree. I am not saying that therapists that graduate from a bachelors degree are better than those from an associates. There are just more opportunities for graduates of a bachelors degree. They are usually the ones in management positions (not everywhere because there is such a shortage of thereapist). Plus if you are going three years to get an associates degree why not do an extra year and get the bachelors. If you want to go on further to med school, PA school, AA school you will need the bachelors. My program is one of the best in the country, our director of our RT department is a former president of the AARC, our program director wrote his own physiology book and is on CoArc and is well respected in the RT profession. Two of our instructors have Phd's and the other one has her masters so they are very well educated and are great teachers. The only areas I dont feel comfortable in are the ICU and NICU but I have at least two more weeks of clinicals in each rotation which will build up my comfort. The program the OP was talking about only had 750 hours of cliniclas which imo is not enough. Her orientation period would most likely be longer than that of a therapist who graduated from a program with more clinical hours.

georgia state or Loma linda?

 

[jrob8503]

Speaking of bachelor's programs, Rush University just announced that they will offer courses for a BS/MS in Respiratory Care this fall. They are the only school in IL to offer a BS/MS in Respiratory Care. This could be big news for therapists in IL. Being an RT in IL kind of sucks b***s right now.

 

[poresofkohn]

Plus if you are going three years to get an associates degree why not do an extra year and get the bachelors.
My AAS would've cost $6K total, if FASFA didn't pay about 90% that is. I made $80K+ my first year out, thats a good investment if you ask me.
If you want to go on further to med school, PA school, AA school you will need the bachelors.
Do it online, hospital paid 80% of my tuition.
Two of our instructors have Phd's and the other one has her masters so they are very well educated and are great teachers.
I had 2 PhD's and 2 JD's (RRTS) teaching my program, but this is just splitting hairs.
The only areas I dont feel comfortable in are the ICU and NICU but I have at least two more weeks of clinicals in each rotation which will build up my comfort. The program the OP was talking about only had 750 hours of cliniclas which imo is not enough. Her orientation period would most likely be longer than that of a therapist who graduated from a program with more clinical hours.

I completely agree with you that we need to advance our profession, but you should avoid making such broad assumptions. If you're still a student, it would seem that you haven't even worked with any 2yr grads yet, let alone anyone else, how can you know how well prepared they are? I'm also assuming you went directly into your program straight from HS (or close anyhow, this is a good thing BTW) you get a different perspective once in the workforce.

 

[lancerdancer01]

I work in the same facility where I did my clinicals for school. I was actually a history major for three years before I changed to respiratory therapy so it took a total of seven years to get my bachelors. I actually havent worked with anyone with an associates degree because our facility only hires graduates from our program or the other bachelors in the state( our department manager is very full of himslef) and there is not much turnover so the demand is low for therapists in North Dakota. So I agree with you that I dont have much experience with clinicians from other programs (other bachelor programs and associate programs) and I have only been working for a year. I am planning on moving to a bigger facility on the west coast and then hopefully I will get a better perspective of how other clinicians perform. That is good to see a BS/MS in Respiratory Care. I would like to see BS/AA programs start to pop up. Dont be a RT in North Dakota the starting pay is only $17/hr and you have to be prn because we have two schools in the state and there is such little turnover, that is why I will be out of here soon, plus this whole month has been about -10 degrees for an average high with wind chill.

 

[RAMPA]

Speaking of bachelor's programs, Rush University just announced that they will offer courses for a BS/MS in Respiratory Care this fall. They are the only school in IL to offer a BS/MS in Respiratory Care. This could be big news for therapists in IL. Being an RT in IL kind of sucks b***s right now.

the pay in chicago sucks for the cost of living

i made more in dallas as a new grad RT than what new grads make here

 

[chimichanga]

Where is he...

Certainly he will grace us with a diatribe about online RTs taking over medicinal pulmonology (w/ wacky vent settings to boot)...


signed, chimi, rn, bsn, msn, crna, dnsc, acls, pals, tncc, does it really matter?????????

a vented, hypoxic, lost soul (frustrated midlevel) , studying for usmle step III, hopefully to become "the chosen one"

looking to take over modern medicine and simulatenously take over the world

nursing advancement sucks, etc, blah, blah, etc, WHATEVER

 

[poresofkohn]

Does anybody know much about this independent university respiratory therapist program. I called and they said its didactic is online and clinical’s are done at your local trauma center (750 hours). What do you think about this? My sister is considering this program but I wanted to check into it for her. It some what sounds like excelsior (witch is the nursing program I did) but without the clinical’s. the hospital I started at had me do a 8 month externship in witch I was grateful to do. Any takes on this school hear is the link. http://www.independence.edu/Programs/HSASRespiratoryTherapy.php

>
According to the CoArc website, there are no accredited online RT programs.

 

[poresofkohn]

the pay in chicago sucks for the cost of living

i made more in dallas as a new grad RT than what new grads make here

>
You in Chi-town now dood?

 

[Paseo Del Norte]

Does anybody know much about this independent university respiratory therapist program. I called and they said its didactic is online and clinical’s are done at your local trauma center (750 hours). What do you think about this? My sister is considering this program but I wanted to check into it for her. It some what sounds like excelsior (witch is the nursing program I did) but without the clinical’s. the hospital I started at had me do a 8 month externship in witch I was grateful to do. Any takes on this school hear is the link. http://www.independence.edu/Programs/HSASRespiratoryTherapy.php

I don't know? This setup does not give me warm fuzzies. Respiratory therapy is a rather specialized field. I suspect it would be quite difficult to gain a solid understanding of the concepts from an on line experience. When you consider gas law physics, flow patterns, lung compliance, and the various calculations you make as a RT, I would want an interactive didactic experience where I have access to an instructor.

In addition, 750 clinical hours seems a bit on the low side. Most RRT's who I talk with had at least 1,000 clock hours of clinical experience during school.

Personally, I would not want to learn about lung dynamics and ventilator management via an online experience, with limited clinical experience to back up the didactic foundation.

I cannot comment on AAS versus BS educated respiratory providers; however, if it is anything like the nursing debate, further discussion will most likely go no where productive.

 

[RAMPA]

>
You in Chi-town now dood?

yep... working NICU and PICU now and hopefully getting trained to sit ECMO pump next yr.

while the hospital setting has low pay, i did obtain a PRN position for a home health agency that pays over $50hr plus mileage

 

[jrob8503]

are you working at Hope or Lutheran General? I think I might still be on the registry at Hope. I quit my full-time position there to work for a home health company under the Lincare umbrella. They will be reimbursing 75% of my tuition. If I go for a Master's, I think they reimburse 100%.

I don't think I'll ever go back to working the hospital. I would not go as far as saying I love home care, but I'm guaranteed 40 hrs every week. Usually, three out of the five days I'm working I start at 8:00 and get home around 2:30. Anytime, I stay past 4:30 is OT.

At Hope, they were cutting hours and making people use their PTO. Employees had gone the whole year saving up for a nice vacation, only to see their time off pay used on random days when they were overstaffed.

 

[RAMPA]

are you working at Hope or Lutheran General? I think I might still be on the registry at Hope. I quit my full-time position there to work for a home health company under the Lincare umbrella. They will be reimbursing 75% of my tuition. If I go for a Master's, I think they reimburse 100%.

I don't think I'll ever go back to working the hospital. I would not go as far as saying I love home care, but I'm guaranteed 40 hrs every week. Usually, three out of the five days I'm working I start at 8:00 and get home around 2:30. Anytime, I stay past 4:30 is OT.

At Hope, they were cutting hours and making people use their PTO. Employees had gone the whole year saving up for a nice vacation, only to see their time off pay used on random days when they were overstaffed.

im actually working at Rush. They seem to be constantly short here, I've only been here 2 wks but I usually overhear the shift coordinator calling employees at home seeing if they can work the next day or night. Plenty of OT available, but I rather work at the home health place as it still pays more than my OT pay at Rush. The company is under the ApothecaryRx umbrella.

Rush will pay for up to 9hrs per quarter if I attend a program on campus. Should I choose to complete the MS in Health Systems Management and do the part time option it would come out entirely free!

 

[poresofkohn]

yep... working NICU and PICU now and hopefully getting trained to sit ECMO pump next yr.

while the hospital setting has low pay, i did obtain a PRN position for a home health agency that pays over $50hr plus mileage

>
Strong work! Good luck with the ECMO training, seems like it would be great experience. Still thinking AA in the future? I guess I'm lucky here in the northeast. I started as a new grad outside NYC just under $30 hr. I think I've mentioned in the past I'm now at a small rural hospital in VT making about the same with experience. The COL is significantly lower here tho! I like my job here, but sometimes I miss the higher acuity level.

 

[leviathan]

Is 750 hours of clinical a normal amount? The program I was in had 4 semesters / 2 years of didactic training, and then a full 12 months in the hospital, which would be 2080 hours.

 

[Paseo Del Norte]

I do not know any RRT's in the US who had less than 1,000 clock hours of clinical experience. I do not know the specifics of the curriculum; however, 750 hours is clearly on the low side in my anecdotal humble opinion.

 

[phillyrt]

Just a couple points to clarify. Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia does not hire exclusively Bachelor degree RTs. I work with several RTs that are full time at CHOP and PRN where I work, and they are all Associate degree level. Also whoever posted CoARC has no online accredited programs needs to check again IU is accredited and is the only program that is. Also 750 hours seems to be in the norm area for RTs I've spoken with. Certainly 2,000 plus is not. Sounds to me like some hospitals where using that program for free labor. I don't know anyone personally that could afford to do that many " free " hours, as most of the folks I know have to work also. I agree adding some more hours wouldn't hurt, however 2,000 plus is nuts..lol. I did clinical time in a great hospital that had about 4 different programs doing clinicals there and all the students had about the same number of hours required for their respective programs. And one last hought, from people I've worked with and spoken to a Bachelors in this field is only really helpful if you aspire to move into management. I have a friend who went through a BS program for respiratory here in Pa. and had essentially the same core RT requirements as Associates program, another words she didn't actually learned any more that I did as far as RT goes. I think BS is a good way to go, however for many it is a good idea to start working in the field and go back later as many people I know need to start working for financial reasons, and as I said from my limited exposure you aren't really learning much more as far as actual RT courses. Just my two cents worth.