Senior student to receive national honor

For the second year in a row, the Midwestern State University Respiratory Care program was selected to receive the Distinguished Registered Respiratory Therapist Credentialing Success Award. Out of approximately 460 respiratory care programs in the country, 88 met the criteria, placing MSU's program among the top master's, bachelor's and associate respiratory care degree programs in the nation. 

Respiratory Care Chair Dr. Jennifer Anderson received the award on behalf of the program at the 2017 American Association for Respiratory Care Summer Forum this summer in Tucson, Arizona. 

The Commission on Accreditation for Respiratory Care (CoARC) board used criteria based on key accreditation metrics documented in the 2016 Annual Report of Current Status (RCS). Programs were required to have three or more years of outcomes data, hold accreditation without a progress report, document Registered Respiratory Therapist (RRT) credentialing success of 90 percent or above, and meet or exceed established CoARC thresholds for Certified Respiratory Therapist (CRT) credentialing success, attrition and positive job placement. 

In another honor, senior respiratory care student Melanie Walker was selected to receive the Jimmy A. Young Memorial Recognition Award at the American Association for Respiratory Care (AARC) Congress October 4, 2017, in Indianapolis, Indiana. The American Respiratory Care Foundation will award her $1,000 in memory of Jimmy A. Young, past president of the AARC, who contributed greatly to respiratory care education. This national award also consists a certificate of recognition, coach airfare, one night's lodging, and registration for the AARC Congress.

 MSU has two different programs - the on-campus program and the online RRT-BSRC program. Anderson said that since 2011, enrollment in the online RRT-BSRC has increased by 357 percent. The online program was recently ranked third in the national list, "2017 Most Affordable Online Colleges for Respiratory Therapy Degrees" by OnlineU.org. 

Also at the forum in Tucson, Anderson presented "EURECA: Enhance Undergraduate Research Endeavors and Creative Activities for Respiratory Care Students" and "Flipping the Classroom."