Respiratory Care A.S.

The Respiratory Care A.S. degree program is provisionally accredited by the Commission  on Accreditation for Respiratory Care (CoARC) as CoARC program number 200618.

The Eastern Florida State College Respiratory Care Associate in Science program, Melbourne Campus, holds Provisional Accreditation from the Commission on Accreditation for Respiratory Care. This status signifies that a program that has been granted an Approval of Intent has demonstrated sufficient compliance to initiate a program in accordance with the Standards through the completion and submission of an acceptable Provisional Accreditation Self Study Report (PSSR), completion of an initial on-site visit, and other documentation required by the CoARC. The conferral of Provisional Accreditation denotes a new program that has made significant progress towards meeting the Standards of Accreditation. The program will remain on Provisional Accreditation until achieving Continuing Accreditation. It is recognized by the National Board for Respiratory Care (NBRC) toward eligibility to the Respiratory Care Credentialing Examination(s). Enrolled students completing the program under Provisional Accreditation are considered graduates of a CoARC accredited program.

All accepted Respiratory Care students are required to participate in clinical education. Students may be required to travel to Steward Medical facilities, Health First facilities, Kindred Hospital, Parrish Medical Center, SeaPines Rehabilitation Center, and Melbourne Terrace in Brevard County. Students may also be required to travel to Winnie Palmer Hospital, Arnold Palmer Hospital, St. Cloud Hospital, and Dr. P. Phillips Hospital, which are all located in the greater Orlando area.

Students will be responsible for participating in clinical rotations each semester and will be scheduled 7 AM to 7 PM with evening, night and weekend rotations. Travel to clinical sites is the responsibility of the student. The program will try to assign students to a clinical site closest to their geographical area, but there is no guarantee of placement location.

In keeping with the College's Mission and Philosophy, the mission of the Respiratory Care Program is to meet the needs of the students by offering quality instruction using theory and performance-based instruction which will enable the student to graduate with the necessary skills to succeed as a Respiratory Therapist and/or to continue ongoing educational goals.

Respiratory Care Program

Mission
Our mission is to prepare compassionate and competent respiratory therapists to become future leaders within the profession of respiratory care.

Vision
Our vision is to be a respected and regarded patient focused, career driven community program for respiratory therapy education.

The Respiratory Care program prepares graduates to work in Respiratory Care. Respiratory Care is a specialty dealing with the diagnosis, assessment, treatment and rehabilitation of patients with cardiopulmonary diseases.

The program is provisionally accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Respiratory Care (CoARC). The degree satisfies the requirements established by the National Board for Respiratory Care and qualifies the graduate as a candidate for the national registry examination. Graduates, upon completion of the program, apply for state licensure.

New Students begin the Respiratory Care program once each academic year, entering the program in the Fall Term (August) and are then enrolled on a full-time basis for 17 consecutive months. General Education and Support classes must be completed prior to admission to the program. Additionally, Introduction to Respiratory Care is a course that must be taken during the summer term prior to the June 1st application deadline.

Hospital activities are conducted in cooperation with local clinical facilities. Academic instruction is provided by EFSC faculty and guest instructors on the Melbourne Campus. An interactive simulation laboratory complements the instructional phase of the program.

The Commission on Accreditation for Respiratory Care (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.

Program outcomes for EFSC can be accessed through this CoARC outcomes website link.