OSU’s Respiratory Therapy program receives perfect scores nationwide

Consistency is not something that Ohio State’s Respiratory Therapy program struggles with, and after being named best program of its kind in the nation, it will carry that consistency into semesters.

Unlike many other programs, the faculty members of respiratory therapy in the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences will not be altering the curriculum much to accommodate for semesters.

“We protect our reputation pretty strongly,” said Sarah Varekojis, assistant professor in the College of Medicine. “We make sure to prepare our students in the classroom before sending them out for the clinical experience. As for semesters, we worked hard to make sure that the curriculum was duplicated well for the new schedule so that we can ensure the same positive outcome.”

Although there is no official ranking system, the Commission on Accreditation for Respiratory Care recently issued a report naming OSU’s Respiratory Therapy program the only of its kind nationwide to receive perfect scores.

From 2008-10, 57 seniors graduated from the program with 100 percent graduation rate, job placement and Certified Respiratory Therapist and Registered Respiratory Therapist examination success, according to data that was self-reported to CoARC.

“We attribute a lot of our success to the fact that we have an excellent relationship with OSU Medical Center,” Varekojis said. “The combination of our prescreening for admission and the access we have to a world-class medical center on our campus is what makes the program successful.”

OSU’s respiratory therapy program is a two-year program and only admits 22 people per class, according to the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences website.

“We get priority placement at the medical center since there is a small student-to-teacher ratio,” said Mel DeMiglio, a third-year in respiratory therapy. “It’s an intimate environment.”

In the duration of the program, the students complete about 1,000 hours of clinical work.

“I wanted to work one-on-one with people, and was drawn to respiratory therapy because it is a very focused major, but you can do more with the degree itself than I realized when I first began,“ said Casey Leisenheimer, a third-year in respiratory therapy. “It’s different reading a book in class than actually getting hands on experience … We can directly apply what we’re learning in class to the patients.”