Abstract
Background: Respiratory care (RC) is one of the established health care services in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (SA). The profession started in SA in the 1970s, but little information is known about the education status. The study aims to assess and describe the status of RC education in SA and current limitations of advancement.
Methods: Local universities and colleges, both private and public, were searched for offering RC degrees. An electronic survey was sent to program directors between June 1st, 2020, and September 20th, 2020. The survey was developed within our research team to describe the status of RC education. The study was approved by the Research Ethics Committee (CMR-RT-2020-06).
Results: Within a total of 74 educational in SA, 23 posted having an RC degree program, of which 13 (56.52%) responded and completed the survey. Most institutions were found in the central and eastern regions, a few in the southern region, and none in the northern region (Figure 1). Most institutions offering RC were governmental 17 (73.91%). Only one (4.35%) institute obtained a national accreditation. Among responding institutions, there are 1,297 students currently enrolled in all levels and 123 full-time teaching staff. None of the institutes reported offering postgraduate RC degrees. In terms of limitations of improving and promoting RC education in SA, the respondents reported shortage of staff, lack of postgraduate programs, lack of research activity, and ineffective communications between institutions were the highest limitations, respectively.
Conclusions: The RC education in SA is developing but not well distributed throughout the Kingdom. The shortage of staff and the limited number of postgraduate degree holders potentially contributed to the delay in establishing postgraduate RC degrees and implementing subspecialties to advance the profession in terms of research and quality of care. Obtaining accreditation is necessary to assure the quality of educational outcomes.
Footnotes
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