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If you want to work in health care and helping people with lung problems sounds interesting, consider a career as a respiratory care practitioner (RCP).
In this accredited, four-year program, you’ll learn to assess, diagnose, treat and educate patients with cardiopulmonary disease. Courses and hands-on clinical training provide you with the skills to create advanced treatment plans, manage ventilators and artificial airways, perform sophisticated diagnostic testing, and consult with physicians and other healthcare personnel to optimize a patient’s lung function.
Upon completion of the program, you will be eligible to test for professional certification in the field. With this degree, you could work for a hospital in an intensive care unit, emergency room or surgical department; a doctor’s office performing pulmonary function testing; a home care agency; or a rehabilitation institute.