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Home ― News ― Respiratory care program receives credentialing award

Respiratory care program receives credentialing award

May 17, 2019

Dakota State University’s Respiratory Care Program received the Distinguished RRT Credentialing Success Award from the Commission on Accreditation for Respiratory Care (CoARC).

“Accreditation means our students can enter a program that has fully complied with the rigorous rules and guidelines of CoARC,” said Bruce Feistner, director of respiratory care at Dakota State. “Graduating from a CoARC-accredited program allows the practitioner to complete the national credentialing exams for Registry status.”

CoARC used the following objective criteria to select the distinguished programs: three or more years of outcomes data; accreditation without a progress report; Registered Respiratory Therapist credentialing success of 90% or above; and achievement of established CoARC thresholds for Certified Respiratory Therapist credentialing success, attrition, and positive job placement.

Dakota State has achieved full accreditation since the program’s formation in 1980 with the merging of two hospital-based programs at McKennan and Sioux Valley (now Avera Health and Sanford Health, respectively), according to Feistner.

Both the Madison campus site and the satellite location in Rapid City were granted full accreditation. Dakota State remains the only South Dakota university to offer a bachelor’s degree in respiratory care.