Respiratory Care Introduction

Course Description

Respiratory Care Introduction provides an overview of a career in respiratory care, the critical thinking methodology necessary for applying academic knowledge to problem-based learning, and foundational exposure to respiratory care concepts. The course introduces the respiratory therapy profession and is designed to support student success in the programme.

Within the SCNS taxonomy, RET is the Respiratory Care prefix. Daytona State publishes this at 3 credits, offered fall, spring and summer, giving approximately 45 contact hours at the prefix's lecture convention.

The emphasis on critical thinking and problem-based learning is the significant thing here, and it is not filler. Respiratory care is not a procedural trade; it is a reasoning role in which a therapist assesses a deteriorating patient, forms a judgement, and acts or escalates within minutes. Programmes place a course like this first because the students who struggle later are usually those who learned to follow protocols without understanding the reasoning underneath them.

Daytona State does not publish a lecture and laboratory split for its RET courses. The prefix runs at three conventions: unsuffixed lecture courses at 15 contact hours per credit (RET1295 and RET2350 at 3 credits and 45 hours, RET2483 at 2 credits and 30), C-suffixed courses at 20 (RET1025C, RET1026C, RET1264C and RET1450C all at 3 credits and 60 hours), and clinical practice at 60 (RET1874 at 4 credits and 240 hours, RET1875 at 3 and 180). This course is unsuffixed and lecture-based, and is priced at the lecture convention.

Learning Outcomes

Required Outcomes

• Describe the respiratory care profession, its scope, and its history.
• Describe the settings in which respiratory therapists practise.
• Describe the respiratory therapist's role within the healthcare team.
• Describe the credentialing pathway and its requirements.
• Describe accreditation and its relationship to examination eligibility.
• Describe Florida licensure requirements for respiratory therapists.
• Describe the structure and expectations of the programme.
• Apply a critical thinking methodology to a clinical problem.
• Distinguish assessment, interpretation, and intervention.
• Describe problem-based learning and participate in it effectively.
• Describe basic respiratory anatomy and physiology.
• Describe the mechanics of ventilation at an introductory level.
• Describe common respiratory conditions and their presentations.
• Describe oxygen therapy and its basic delivery devices.
• Describe infection control and standard precautions.
• Describe patient communication and therapeutic interaction.
• Describe medical terminology used in cardiopulmonary care.
• Describe documentation and its clinical and legal significance.
• Describe professional ethics and patient confidentiality.
• Describe study strategies appropriate to a science-heavy programme.
• Describe the physical and emotional demands of the role.
• Evaluate your own suitability and readiness for the pathway.
• Describe clinical placement requirements and prepare for them.
• Locate and use professional resources and guidelines.

Optional Outcomes

• Describe the history of mechanical ventilation.
• Describe emerging areas of respiratory practice.
• Observe in a clinical setting.
• Describe interprofessional practice in critical care.
• Describe health disparities in respiratory disease.
• Begin structured preparation for credentialing examinations.

Major Topics

Required Topics

• The profession, scope, and history
• Practice settings
• Role within the healthcare team
• The credentialing pathway
• Accreditation and examination eligibility
• Florida licensure
• Programme structure and expectations
• Critical thinking methodology
• Assessment, interpretation, intervention
• Problem-based learning
• Respiratory anatomy and physiology
• Mechanics of ventilation
• Common respiratory conditions
• Oxygen therapy basics
• Infection control
• Patient communication
• Cardiopulmonary terminology
• Documentation
• Ethics and confidentiality
• Study strategies
• Demands of the role
• Self-evaluation of readiness
• Clinical placement requirements
• Professional resources

Optional Topics

• History of mechanical ventilation
• Emerging practice areas
• Clinical observation
• Interprofessional critical care
• Health disparities in respiratory disease
• Credentialing preparation

Resources & Tools

• Egan's Fundamentals of Respiratory Care — the standard text of the profession and the one to keep.
• Pilbeam's Mechanical Ventilation — the standard ventilation reference.
• NBRC (nbrc.org) — free examination content outlines and eligibility rules; read the eligibility page before enrolling anywhere.
• CoARC (coarc.com) — free accreditation lookup and programme outcome data, including credentialing success rates.
• AARC (aarc.org) — the American Association for Respiratory Care; clinical practice guidelines and inexpensive student membership.
• Florida Board of Respiratory Care (floridasrespiratorycare.gov) — free; the authority on Florida licensure.
• American Heart Association — BLS, ACLS, and PALS provider courses; hold current certification before you need it for a job application.
• Your clinical preceptors — the most valuable resource in the programme; ask why, not just how.

Career Pathways

• Respiratory therapist — SOC 29-1126.
• Hospital adult critical care — the largest employment setting and the highest acuity.
• Emergency department and rapid response.
• Neonatal and paediatric intensive care — a demanding speciality with its own credential.
• Pulmonary function laboratory and diagnostics.
• Sleep medicine and polysomnography — a related pathway with its own credential.
• Cardiopulmonary rehabilitation.
• Home care and long-term ventilator management — a growing sector.
• Transport and flight respiratory care — higher acuity and higher pay.
• Patient and community education — asthma, COPD, and smoking cessation programmes.
• Clinical education and programme instruction, and management, after experience.
• Continue to a bachelor's or master's — increasingly expected for leadership and education roles.

Special Information

⚠ Decide early whether this pathway suits you — and check your eligibility now

• This course exists partly so that students can find out what the work actually involves before committing years to it, and concluding it is not for you is a legitimate and useful outcome.
• The work is high-acuity and emotionally demanding. You will be present at codes, at deaths, and at withdrawal-of-support decisions, and a substantial part of respiratory practice is with critically ill patients who do not all survive.
• It is physically demanding — twelve-hour shifts, nights, weekends, and holidays, with constant movement between units.
• ⚠ Check accreditation and eligibility before you invest. Confirm the programme is CoARC-accredited, and establish that background screening and health requirements will not block your clinical placement.
• Establish the science foundation now. Anatomy, physiology, chemistry, and mathematics all carry through the programme, and weakness in them compounds.
• Learn to reason rather than memorise from the start. The credentialing examinations test clinical judgement in scenarios, not recall of facts.
• Observe in a clinical setting if you can arrange it — an afternoon watching respiratory therapists work is worth more than any description.
• Talk to working therapists about what they like and what they would warn you about.

⚠⚠ Respiratory care is a high-acuity role — the interventions are immediately life-sustaining

• Respiratory therapists manage airways, ventilators, and oxygen delivery for patients who cannot breathe adequately for themselves. The margin between a correct and an incorrect intervention is measured in minutes.
• You will be called to emergencies. Codes, rapid responses, and intubations are part of the role, and the respiratory therapist is frequently the airway person in the room.
• Ventilator settings are prescribed within a plan of care, and the therapist's assessment informs them. Know your institution's protocols and the limits of what you may adjust independently.
• ⚠ Oxygen is a drug. It is prescribed, it has indications and hazards, and too much can be as harmful as too little in specific patient groups. Titrating without understanding why is dangerous.
• Escalate rather than wait. A deteriorating patient needs the physician now, and hesitating to call is a recurring contributor to poor outcomes.
• Document assessments, settings, and responses accurately and contemporaneously; the ventilator record is a clinical and legal document.
• Infection control is central — you work with airways and secretions, and ventilator-associated pneumonia is a measured, preventable harm.
• Speak up about safety concerns, including to senior clinicians. The therapist is frequently the person who notices the airway problem first.

⚠⚠ Credentialing and licensure — verify before you enrol

• The recognised credentials are the CRT and RRT, awarded by the National Board for Respiratory Care (NBRC). The RRT is the standard for hospital employment, and many employers will not hire at the CRT level.
• ⚠⚠ Eligibility to sit those examinations requires graduation from a programme accredited by CoARC (the Commission on Accreditation for Respiratory Care). Confirm a programme's accreditation before enrolling — the same trap already recorded here for CAPTE, CAAHEP, and ACOTE, and equally unrecoverable afterwards.
• Florida licenses respiratory therapists under Chapter 468, Part V, Florida Statutes, through the Department of Health's Board of Respiratory Care. Licensure follows credentialing, and practising without a licence is an offence.
• Specialty credentials exist — neonatal/paediatric, sleep, pulmonary function, and adult critical care among them — and they raise both capability and pay.
• Life support certifications are separate and expected: BLS always, and ACLS, PALS, and NRP depending on the setting. Many employers require them at hire or within a defined period.
• Licences renew with continuing education on a defined cycle.
• Background screening and health clearance are required for clinical placement and for licensure, and a criminal record can end this pathway before it starts — raise any concern early and privately.
• ⚠ Rule 11 applies. Verify accreditation, examination eligibility, and licensure requirements with CoARC, the NBRC, and the Florida Board rather than relying on this guide.

How Florida course levels affect transfer

The first digit of an SCNS number denotes the year of offering, not transferability. Courses at the 1000 and 2000 levels transfer transparently between Florida public institutions, and 3000 to 4000 is unproblematic since both are upper division. The boundary that actually matters is 2000 to 3000, where lower-division credit generally cannot satisfy an upper-division requirement — and it is live here, since Daytona State offers both associate-level and bachelor of applied science coursework in this prefix.

RET1021 is 3 credits and approximately 45 contact hours, offered fall, spring and summer at Daytona State.

⚠ Confirm CoARC accreditation and your own eligibility before investing further in this pathway — see the credentialing note above.