The University of Toledo

Respiratory Care

Take a deep breath. Now relax.

If that was easy for you, be grateful. There are people for whom a simple breath is, well, not so simple.

That's where respiratory therapists come in.

Respiratory Care is an allied health specialty.  Respiratory care practitioners assist physicians with the treatment, management, control, diagnostic evaluation and care of patients with deficiencies and abnormalities associated with the cardiopulmonary system.

The respiratory therapist sees a diverse group of patients ranging from newborn and pediatric patients to adults and the elderly.  Disease states or conditions often requiring respiratory care include asthma, emphysema, chronic obstructive lung disease, pneumonia, cystic fibrosis, infant respiratory distress syndrome, and conditions brought on by shock, trauma or post-operative surgical complications.

Respiratory therapists are also involved in many specialty areas in the hospital such as newborn labor and delivery, neonatal and pediatric intensive care units, pulmonary function and sleep study laboratories, and adult intensive care units.  The respiratory therapist with a baccalaureate degree is prepared to deliver respiratory care in the hospital, home, and alternate care settings.

The University of Toledo’s Respiratory Care Program is a recipient of the Ohio Board of Regent’s prestigious Program Excellence Award and is nationally accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Respiratory Care (CoARC) which can be contacted by mail at 1248 Harwood Rd, Bedford, TX 76021-4244, by phone at 817.283.2835, or on line at http://www.coarc.com.   Our full-time faculty are Registered Respiratory Therapists with Doctoral degrees and extensive clinical training and experience.  Our clinical faculty are all Registered Respiratory Therapists, and our laboratory facilities rank among the most comprehensive in the nation.