How do I become a Respiratory Therapist?

How is the best way to become a respiratory therapist?

• so I am really interested in respiratory therapy and I am planning on going to the East Los Angeles College respiratory therapy program after I am done with my generals. Its a great job but the only problem is the only university with a bachelors program in respiratory therapy is Loma Linda University which is about 1 hour and 30 minutes away from where I live. so i have a few questions? 1) is bachelors worth it for respiratory therapists? 2) what is the difference between bachelors and associate in respiratory therapy? 3) i heard you don't neccessarily need to have a bachelors in respiratory therapy you can have a bachelors in anything else and it will count. if this is true what would be best to get a bachelors in? 4) is it not likely to pass the RRT exam with only an associates??

• Answer:

  Joe you are kinda uninformed about health care professionals or maybe you don't realize health care has progressed beyond the year 1900. Bachelors degrees are not the preferred entry for most health care professionals now including RNs and RRTs. RRTs are preparing for their next entry education increase for licensure and the Bills that will hopefully be passed for them soon giving them more opportunities if they have Bachelors and Masters. Other health care professionals not only have Bachelors but also Masters and Doctorate degrees just to enter their profession. This is not "management". Also if you look at any of the Bachelors degrees for RTs and RNs you will see there is not much that pertains just to "management" without clinical education. Now if you want to be a manager you will need at least a Masters degree with specialized courses. To the OP: if you can't take the Bachelors degree now, make plans to take it soon after you finish your Associates at a California community college. For goodness sakes stay away from private tech colleges which cost a fortune and will not allow you to transfer credits to any other school. If you want to get another Bachelors, you could get one in business, pre-med or health sciences in prep for a Masters in Business (MBA) if you want to be a manager, Physician Assistant or Public Health. Edit +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Joe you are a new grad and haven't had a chance to work with RTs who take their profession seriously and have Bachelors degrees. Yes, those are the bedside staff members. Your 99% number is very incorrect. You can go online to the AARC and see who all has higher degrees and it is impressive to see how far RT has come. You are degrading a profession you should be supporting. Just because you took the easy route for a job doesn't meant others who want a career should follow in your footsteps. Health care professions are advancing. The question is does the OP want a career or just a job without much opportunity to advance to transport, ECMO, specialty units, clinics or flight? Southern CA RTs are more progressive and forward thinking thinks to Loma Linda Univerity. It is a pleasure to work with a well educated professonal RT and not just a neb jockey always looking for shortcuts to benefit themselves and not the patient. If you want to be just viewed by nurses and all the others as just a tech slinging nebs, just do the minimum. I've seen enough of those which is why nursing is taking over many of the RT duties and RTs are being laid off. I support the RT staff who aren't minimalists. Those who know less about a ventitlator than the average ICU RN and have no desire to advance or be professional have no business even being in the ICU. Remember in the state of California, an LVN can manage a ventilator.