Abstract
Background: Respiratory care (RC) students obtain a Bachelor of Science degree in respiratory care from Indiana University of Pennsylvania. The first two years of the program “pre-clinical phase”, requires science, math, liberal arts and elective courses, for a total of 62 of the 120 credits. The last two years are the “clinical phase” which requires 58 credits of respiratory care core curriculum. The purpose of this investigation was two-fold: To determine whether or not students truly understand what the RC major entailed during the first two years; and whether the preclinical science and math courses adequately prepared the students for the difficulty of the Respiratory curriculum during the last two years. The primary goal of this project was to attempt to reduce attrition in the program.
Methods: After obtaining IRB approval, third- and fourth-year respiratory care students answered a 10-question survey sent via Survey Monkey through university email. Fifty-seven students from 2018-2019 were surveyed with a return rate of 63% (n= 36). Fifty-three percent were juniors (n=19) and 47% were senior (n=17) RC students at the time of the surveys.
Results: Survey results revealed that 75% of RC students felt prepared entering the clinical phase of the program. Moreover, 78% of RC students felt specifically the required math and science courses did adequately prepare them for the core courses. In fact, 61% of RC students report their QPA actually increased after entering the professional phase of the program. However, only 36% of these students admitted they knew exactly what the profession entailed when they were freshmen and sophomores.
Conclusions: Results indicate the current math and science curriculum during the first two years does appear to adequately prepare students for the clinical phase of the program. Student opinion shows that academic attrition during the clinical phase of the program appears to be due factors other than science preparedness. However, these results also indicate that students need more exposure to the major and/or a better understanding about the major during the preclinical years 1 and 2. The program currently offers RESP 101 “The Respiratory Care Profession”- a one credit introductory course for either freshman or sophomore students. While this course helps to explore the major and career paths in respiratory care, it may be helpful to consider providing additional information in this course in order to show more breadth and depth about RC which could reduce attrition.
Figure 1: Students Perceptions of Program Preparedness of Professional Phase
Figure 2: Results of Students Admitted Career Knowledge Prior to the Professional Phase of the Program.
Footnotes
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