Nov 21, 2024  
Catawba Valley Community College 2024-2025 General Catalog 
    
Catawba Valley Community College 2024-2025 General Catalog

Respiratory Therapy, A.A.S. (A45720)


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Courses required to meet graduation requirements in this curriculum are offered during daytime hours.  Minimum time for completion: five semesters full-time attendance. The Associate of Applied Science degree is awarded graduates of this curriculum.

The Respiratory Therapy curriculum prepares individuals to function as respiratory therapists through demonstrated competence in the cognitive, psychomotor, and affective learning domains of respiratory care practice. Graduates perform diagnostic and therapeutic procedures with exposure to current and emerging practice settings.

The curriculum prepares graduates to operate within inter-professional teams and effectively communicate with clients/patients of various ages, ethnicities, and cultures. Application of problem solving strategies, applying ethical decision making, and understanding professional responsibilities are emphasized.

Graduates are eligible to complete the credentialing process through the National Board for Respiratory Care, which will qualify them for a license to practice in a variety of healthcare settings with responsibilities for assessment, treatment, management and education of patients with cardiopulmonary diseases.

The Respiratory Therapy curriculum prepares individuals to function as respiratory graduates with demonstrated competence in the cognitive (knowledge), psychomotor (skills), and affective (behavior), learning domains of respiratory care practice as performed by Registered Respiratory Therapists (RRT).

Note: Applicants to the 2023 Respiratory Therapy no longer need to complete a CHEMISTRY course. Applicants for 2023 must complete BIO-168 and MAT-143 prior to the MAR Checklist submission date. MAT-143 is a new requirement for the RT program; there are no course substitutions for MAT-143.

General Education Courses:


Humanities/Fine Arts:


  •  Credit Hours: 3

Natural Sciences/Mathematics:


Social/Behavioral Sciences:


  •   Credit Hours: 3

Total Credit Hours Required: 75


Developmental Course Requirements:


Developmental coursework (both prerequisite and corequisite) will be required of students whose placement test measures indicate a need for greater proficiency in the areas of English and/or mathematics. Please refer to the Course Description section for prerequisite and corequisite course information.

Suggested Program Sequence Day:


Total Hours: Class 16 | Lab 10 | Clin/Wk Exp 0 | Credit 20


Spring - 1st year:


Total Hours: Class 12 | Lab 6 | Clin/Wk Exp 15 | Credit 19


Summer - 1st year:


Total Hours: Class 0 | Lab 3 | Clin/Wk Exp 6 | Credit 3


Fall - 2nd year:


  • Credit Hours:
  • Credit Hours:
  • Credit Hours:
  • Credit Hours:

Suggested Program Sequence Evening/Weekend:


Grand Total Hours: Class 44 | Lab 34 | Clin/WkExp 57 | Credit 75


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