The Respiratory Therapy Program in the College of Health Professions has been recognized with the Distinguished RRT Credentialing Success Award by the Commission on Accreditation for Respiratory Care (CoARC).

The award is presented as part of CoARC’s efforts to value the Registered Respiratory Therapist (RRT) credential as a standard of professional achievement. The award is in addition to the program’s CoARC accreditation, which runs through 2025.

To receive the Distinguished RRT Credentialing Success Award, programs submitted reports detailing credentialing rates and other highlights. Award honorees are required to have credentialing success rate of more than 90 percent.

It is the fourth time the Respiratory Therapy Program has received the honor.

“We are good at what we do,” said Claire Aloan, MS, RT, RRT-NPS, FAARC, associate professor and program chair. “We have an outstanding faculty and community partners who ensure our students excel in every aspect of the program, including credentialing.”

Registered respiratory therapists (RRT) have played a critical role in the care of COVID-19 patients during this pandemic. Many severely ill COVID-19 patients are put on ventilators to help them breathe, requiring the assistance of a respiratory therapist whose role it is to operate the ventilator and assess a patients’ oxygen levels, lung function, among other responsibilities.

Aloan said the pandemic has helped shine a light on the role of the respiratory therapist, though she said it’s still too early to tell whether the attention will lead to an increase in students.