As a respiratory therapy student at Mayo Clinic School of Health Sciences, your training will take you beyond the textbook and into the clinic where in as little as two weeks you'll gain hands-on experience with a wide variety of respiratory conditions and care procedures using state-of-the-art technology.

Prepared with introductory topics such as patient assessment, aerosol therapy, chest X-ray interpretation, and oxygen therapy, our students continue to develop as they learn and practice:

• To prepare graduates with demonstrated competence in the cognitive (knowledge), psychomotor (skills), and affective (behavior) learning domains of respiratory care practice as performed by registered respiratory therapists (RRTs).Adult critical care — intensive care unit and emergency room
• Airway management — bag mask ventilation and intubation
• Asthma case management
• Diagnostic procedures — pulmonary function testing, bronchoscopy, hemodynamic monitoring, and polysomnography
• Cardiopulmonary rehabilitation
• Mechanical ventilator management
• Chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD) case management
• Pediatric and neonatal critical care — intensive care and emergency room
• Hemodynamic monitoring
• Patient assessment, oxygen administration, nebulizer therapy, and chest physical therapy
• Smoking cessation
• Lung health counseling
• Newborn and pediatric critical care
• Research study design

As a student, you’ll start working with patients and applying your skills in the fourth week of the program. You’ll graduate with nearly 1,400 hours of hands-on clinical experience and practice.

Program goals

• To prepare graduates with demonstrated competence in the cognitive (knowledge), psychomotor (skills), and affective (behavior) learning domains of respiratory care practice as performed by registered respiratory therapists (RRTs).
• To prepare leaders for the field of respiratory care by including curricular content that includes objectives related to acquisition of skills in one or more of the following: management, education, research, and advanced clinical practice.

Early Assurance Program

The University of Minnesota Rochester (UMR), in collaboration with the Mayo Clinic School of Health Sciences, offers an Early Assurance Program for students interested in obtaining a Bachelor of Science in Health Professions-Respiratory Care Track degree. Students begin freshmen year at UMR in the Bachelor of Science in Health Sciences Program and complete two years of prerequisites. Following the successful completion of prerequisites, the students automatically transition to the Bachelor of Science in Health Professions- Respiratory Care Track. Admission is limited and competitive. Visit the UMR website to learn more about early assurance admission into the respiratory care program.