Respiratory Therapy major

Respiratory Therapy: courses, careers, and where to study

Respiratory Therapy trains you to assess and treat patients with breathing and cardiopulmonary problems, suiting hands-on students drawn to bedside clinical care.

Respiratory Therapy prepares you to evaluate, treat, and monitor people who have trouble breathing, from premature newborns to adults with chronic lung disease or sudden respiratory failure. Working under physician direction, respiratory therapists help build and carry out care plans: they measure how well the lungs move air and oxygen, manage ventilators and oxygen delivery, administer inhaled medications and airway-clearance therapies, draw and interpret arterial blood gases, and respond when a patient stops breathing. Coursework grounds you in human anatomy and physiology with a heavy focus on the respiratory and cardiovascular systems, the disease processes that disrupt them, pharmacology of inhaled and supportive drugs, and the operation and upkeep of the equipment used at the bedside. Unlike a broad nursing program that covers the whole body, this major concentrates squarely on the heart-lung system, and unlike a pulmonary or polysomnography technician role limited to running specific tests, respiratory therapists are trained to deliver a full range of therapeutic and life-support procedures.

The common entry path is an associate degree, though bachelor's options exist and some employers and advanced roles prefer them; programs typically blend classroom science with hands-on labs and supervised clinical rotations in hospital units so you practice on real patients before you graduate. Practice as a respiratory therapist is regulated in most states, which generally means a credential earned through a national exam plus a state license, and programmatic accreditation and state licensure requirements vary and should be verified for any specific program and the state where you intend to work. Graduates most often work in hospital settings such as emergency departments, intensive care units, and neonatal and pediatric wards, while others move into sleep-disorder centers, home health and patient-education roles, pulmonary diagnostic labs, long-term care, or transport and rehabilitation teams.

In federal data for the closely related occupation of respiratory therapists, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports a 2024 median wage of $80,450 and projects employment to grow about 12.1% from 2024 to 2034; an associate's degree is the typical entry-level education for that occupation. National figures are occupation-wide medians across all experience levels, not starting wages or graduate outcomes.