» Respiratory Care

Would you like to help people? Help a child with asthma or an elderly person with chronic lung disease? Would you like to become a professional? Would you like to be employable after only three years of education?

Consider respiratory care. It’s a rewarding and fulfilling profession that’s in tremendous demand. US News and World Report list it as #3 on the “10 Jobs With Great Return on Investment” and the Bureau of Labor Statistics has projected that through the period 2008 – 2018, the need for respiratory therapists will grow by 22 percent. COPD and asthma are creating a huge market for respiratory therapists and COPD is projected to become the 4th leading cause of death in the US by 2020. The need for respiratory therapists is clearly growing.

For more information on the Respiratory Care Program, contact William Galvin at 215-641-5536 or e-mail at galvin.w@gmc.edu or for Admissions information contact at Jakita Price, Senior Admissions Counselor at 1-800-DIAL-GMC (x511) or e-mail at price.j@gmc.edu

Additional professional information is available through the American Association for Respiratory Care at www.AARC.org.

For a detailed description on the Respiratory Care program, click here

Key Features include:

• Become a professional (vital member of health care team)
• An experienced and nationally-recognized program (faculty and clinical affiliates)
• Career ladder approach (associate degree with Certificate and Registry-eligibility  + bachelor's degree offerings)
• An integrated classroom, laboratory and clinical teaching/learning approach)
• Listed by Money Magazine as number 13 on the list of the “50 Hottest Jobs in the Country” and cited by the
• Bureau of Labor Statistics as having a 22 percent demand in growth by 2018
• Salary ranges are currently $40,000 - $65,000 (with a median salary of $52,200)

Unique three-plus-one program design

Gwynedd-Mercy College offers a career ladder approach to respiratory care education with its unique three-plus-one program design (associate degree with certification and registry-eligibility + baccalaureate degree). The first three years represent the associate degree program, allowing the student to sit for his or her entry-level exam and advanced-level examination and secure employment after only three years of preparation. The last year is the bachelor of health science degree program designed for professional leadership and service in the areas of management/supervision and/or opportunities in classroom, clinical, patient or community education. This program design is geared to the student’s needs and is the only one of its kind in the region. It is student- and career-directed and allows the student upward mobility and career advancement.

A Pioneer in Respiratory Care Education

Gwynedd-Mercy College has a long and celebrated history of preparing health care professionals. The College's health care roots begin back in the early 1960s from its original sponsor, the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, one of the very first respiratory care education programs in the country. In the late 1970s it was the educational arm of a consortium of five hospital-based schools and assumed total classroom, laboratory and clinical responsibility for educational development in the early 1980s. It houses a distinguished and world-renowned list of affiliate hospitals - the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Thomas Jefferson University, the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and many others.

The Repiratory Care Program is accredited by Committee on Accredition of Respiratory Care (CoARC).   The Program Director is William F. Galvin, MS, RRT, CPFT, AE-C FAARC

Curriculum Information

MAJOR 

Respiratory Care  63  credits

1. Skills for Exploring – 6 credits for AS & BS
2. Exploring Society and Global Diversity – 3 credits for AS, 12 credits for BS
3. Exploring the Natural World, Mathematics and Technology – 24 credits for AS & BS
4. Exploring the Spiritual World – 6 credits for AS, 9 credits for BS
5. Exploring the Arts and Imagination – 3 credits for AS, 9 credits for BS

General Education Elective – 3 credits

        Choose one class in either History, Sociology, Psychology, Art or Music for BS degree only

**Please contact Jakita Price, in the Office of Admissions at price.j@gmc.edu for specific general education course requirements.

Credit Requirement
A minimum of 99 credits is required for the AS degree.

A minimum of 126 credits is required for the BS degree.

Grade Requirement
The minimum passing grade within the major is C (a grade of C- is not acceptable)

For detailed course descriptions click here.