Commonwealth University Respiratory Care Bachelor’s Degree Program

Program Overview 

The Commonwealth University Respiratory Therapy Program is a full-time, four-year, Bachelor of Science (BS) degree program. It is a collaborative program with Commonwealth University’s Department of Biological and Health Sciences and Guthrie Robert Packer Hospital. Students spend the first two years at any Commonwealth University campus (Bloomsburg, Lock Haven or Mansfield) completing program pre-requisites and general education courses. After meeting the program pre-requisites, students will spend their second two years plus one summer engaging in respiratory specific didactic courses, clinical courses and hands-on experiences at Robert Packer Hospital in Sayre, PA, where they complete classroom and clinical experience. Students will also rotate to several other clinical affiliates, gaining valuable hands-on clinical experiences.

The respiratory therapy courses consist of tightly coordinated classroom, laboratory and clinical training conducted Monday through Friday primarily during the day. In all clinical courses, the clinical instructor provides ongoing feedback to the student through weekly written performance evaluations. Each student provides the program with weekly feedback through completion of online clinical instructor and rotation evaluation surveys. Guthrie Robert Packer Hospital is the primary site of clinical training. Each student’s clinical experience assignments will also include rotations to Arnot Ogden Medical Center, Elmira, NY; Bridgewater Rehabilitation Center, Binghamton, NY; Cayuga Medical Center, Ithaca, NY; Corning Hospital, Corning, NY; United Health Services Wilson Regional Medical Center, Johnson City, NY; Danville Geisinger Medical Center, Danville, PA; Troy Community Hospital, Troy, PA; Gerould’s Healthcare Center, Elmira, NY and Guthrie Med Supply Depot, Sayre, PA. Regarding clinical experience assignments to off-site facilities, all students are responsible for their own transportation, meals, and housing expenses (if applicable).

At the end of their studies, students are awarded the BS in Respiratory Care and are immediately eligible to sit for the Therapist Multiple Choice Exam (TMC) and then Clinical Simulation Exam (CSE) given by the National Board of Respiratory Care (NBRC) to obtain their Registered Respiratory Therapist (RRT) credential.

The Commonwealth University Respiratory Therapist Program Is Nationally Accredited By:

The Commission on Accreditation for Respiratory Care
www.coarc.com

CoARC Outcomes data from the Annual Report of Current Status includes retention, job placement and success on the national credentialing exams.
coarc.com/students/programmatic-outcomes-data

Mansfield University CoARC Program Number: 200019
“CoARC accredits respiratory therapy education programs in the United States. To achieve this end, it utilizes an ‘outcomes 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.”