Department Chair: Lisa Johnson
The respiratory care program offers a full-time upper-division program leading to the Bachelor of Science degree. Stony Brook freshmen are given the option to declare respiratory care as a lower-division major.
Respiratory therapists specialize in the diagnosis and treatment of patients with heart, lung, and sleep disorders. They work with a wide variety of patients, from premature infants to the elderly. They provide services in many settings including hospitals, clinics, physician offices, nursing homes, and rehabilitation centers. Many are also taking advantage of opportunities in diagnostic labs (such as sleep, cardiac catheterization pulmonary function) and in-home health care. Individuals who graduate from the program are employed as clinicians, managers, educators and researchers.
The respiratory care program is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Respiratory Care (CoARC) [www.coarc.com] located at 264 Precision Blvd, Telford, TN 37690, (817) 283-2835. CoARC accredits respiratory therapy education programs in the United States. To achieve this end, it utilizes an ‘outcome based’ process. Programmatic outcomes are performance indicators that reflect the extent to which the educational goals of the program are achieved and by which program effectiveness is documented. https://coarc.com/students/programmatic-outcomes-data/
The respiratory care program is also an education program approved by the New York State Department of Education. Stony Brook University is accredited by Middle States Commission on Higher Education Accreditation (last reaffirmed 2014) located at 3624 Market Street, 2nd Floor West, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, Telephone: (267) 284-5000, www.msche.org. Graduates of the respiratory care program are eligible to sit for National Board for Respiratory Care (NBRC) (www.nbrc.org/) and upon passing the exams can pursue state licensure.
The school’s Certificate of Professional Achievement and the University’s baccalaureate degree are awarded upon satisfactory completion of all coursework.
Admission Requirements
Candidates for the respiratory care program must meet the upper-division admission requirements of the School of Health Professions. The requirements may be fulfilled through previously completed college studies.
In addition to the general academic requirements for junior status in the School of Health Professions, candidates must have a minimum grade point average (GPA) of 2.5 and a minimum science GPA of 2.0. All prerequisite courses must be completed with a grade of C or better. Minimum required courses include: 3 credits English composition; 3 credits of arts; 3 credits of humanities; 3 credits of introductory (100 level) and 3 credits of intermediate or higher (200 - 400 level) social and behavioral sciences; 8 credits of anatomy and physiology (preferred) or general biology with labs; 8 credits of chemistry with labs, 4 credits of physics with a lab, and 3 credits of statistics. Science courses less than 10 years old are preferred. The program also requires students to be certified in Basic Life Support (BLS) offered by the American Heart Association (valid certification card required) prior to starting clinical rotations.
To advance to junior status, Stony Brook students who declared a respiratory care major as freshmen must meet the requirements described above and successfully complete HAT 210 with a grade of B or higher.
Career Pathways
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