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News Release

RESPIRATORY CARE PROGRAM UNDER WAY AT UPMC NORTHWEST
Clarion University-Venango Campus is a partner in the new degree program

March 15, 2007 — Respiratory care is like many other health care professions: there is a significant shortage of respiratory therapists, especially in western Pennsylvania.  Hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, and other health care organizations must compete with each other to enlist the services of qualified respiratory care practitioners.

To help meet the need for respiratory care professionals, UPMC Northwest has joined forces with Clarion University-Venango Campus and UPMC Horizon to launch a two-year respiratory care program that is under way. Thirteen students are enrolled in the new program and they completed the fall semester at Venango Campus.

This semester students are taking science and general education courses at Venango Campus and respiratory care courses taught by program director Wayne Anderson, RRT, and director of clinical education Chris Harancher, RRT, at UPMC Northwest’s Seneca Place in Seneca. Respiratory care program enrollment is projected to grow steadily over the next five years and beyond.

“The respiratory care program is an important addition to the School of Nursing and Allied Health,” said Renee Smith-Schaffer, chair of the Department of Allied Health, “and is a clear example of its mission to partner with area employers to meet critical workforce needs of the region.”

Students will complete the 14-month clinical practicum portion of the respiratory care program at UPMC Northwest and UPMC Horizon campuses in Greenville and Farrell, as well as at other clinical affiliates including Clarion Hospital, Meadville Medical Center, Hamot Medical Center in Erie, and St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in Youngstown, Ohio. Students will graduate in August 2008 with an Associate of Science in Respiratory Care degree from Clarion University-Venango Campus, and will be eligible to sit for the credentialing examinations for advanced-level respiratory therapists administered by the National Board for Respiratory Care (NBRC). 

Students who successfully complete the NBRC examinations earn the credential RRT (registered respiratory therapist) and are qualified to provide care in a variety of health care settings.

“We are very excited to have a local source for respiratory staff,” says Routine Diagnostic Center manager Chuck Kimball, RRT, who oversees UPMC Northwest’s cardio-respiratory services. “We have found it difficult to compete for respiratory therapists who are not local. Many graduates choose to stay close to where they train. We think a local program will help address the local shortage.”

Respiratory therapists specialize in assessing and treating respiratory and cardiovascular illnesses including chronic lung disease and complications resulting from heart attacks, stroke, trauma and other conditions. They are specialists in airway management, mechanical ventilation, and critical care techniques.

The respiratory care program is not the only way that UPMC Northwest and Clarion University work together to meet the need for health care professionals. UPMC Northwest’s Radiologic Technology School and Clarion University partner to offer a Bachelor of Science in Radiologic Sciences degree program. With over 140 students enrolled in the four-year program, students who graduate each year are eligible to sit for the certification examination in radiography administered by the American Registry of Radiology Technologists.   

Also, more than 30 UPMC Northwest employees are enrolled in the second RN Back-to-School program, an associate degree nursing program that UPMC Northwest offers in partnership with Venango Campus. The RN Back-to-School students will graduate in May 2010 before joining the nursing staff of UPMC Northwest organizations.

More than 20 graduate nurses were added to the staff of UPMC Northwest, Visiting Nurses Association of Venango County and Sugar Creek Station when the first RN Back-to-School program was completed in the spring of 2005.

In addition, a number of UPMC Northwest employees have been accepted into Clarion University’s Executive MBA program that will begin at Venango Campus in fall 2007.

Individuals can learn more about the respiratory care program by calling 814-677-7202 at UPMC Northwest or by visiting the respiratory care home page on Clarion University’s web site.