| Problem. Respiratory therapy educational programs have not yet been sufficiently studied, as evidenced by the scarcity of available research data, particularly in light of the currently low pass rates among many accredited programs and the shifting accreditation focus toward program outcomes.;Findings. Findings indicate that: (1) Selected program characteristics tend to vary according to program level, as well as among programs at a single level. (2) Baccalaureate programs enjoy the highest entry-level exam pass rates and scaled score averages with therapist programs second and technician programs third. (3) Across program types: (a) there is no identifiable relationship between number of program graduates and program pass rate. (b) those programs with higher numbers and/or higher percentages of graduates examined tend to exhibit lower pass rates. (c) programs admitting larger classes tend to experience higher levels of attrition. (d) the total number of general science hours required is positively related to program pass rate. (4) Technician and therapist programs using fewer clinical sites tend to have higher entry-level exam performance levels. (5) Among technician level programs only, higher levels of attrition are directly related to pass rates. (6) Anatomy and physiology, physics, microbiology and total general science instructional hours are directly related to technician program graduate performance on the entry-level examination. (7) Therapist program pass rates are directly related to number of classroom hours, lab hours, clinical hours, and total program hours. (8) Of the three program levels studied, the college-based, therapist level is probably most appropriate for entry-level respiratory care education.;Method. A nationwide random sample of seventy-three programs was invited to participate in a study of program characteristics and graduate performance on the 1984 N.B.R.C. entry-level examinations. Eighty-one percent of the sampled programs (including twenty-one technician, twenty therapist and eighteen baccalaureate programs), responded, although some responses had missing data points. Two additional programs voluntarily submitted information, and were included in the study bringing the total number of programs studied to sixty-one. Exploratory data analysis techniques were applied in order to identify and describe existing patterns and relationships. |
