In May, the Commission on Accreditation for Respiratory Care (CoARC) conducted an on-site re-accreditation review of the Boise State University Department of Respiratory Care. The visit was extremely successful, with CoARC documenting several program strengths in their report and no citations.
The committee wrote that: “The respiratory care program at Boise State is a strongly recognized regional program that is expanding that reputation to a nationally and internationally recognized one.”
The CoARC report noted the unwavering commitment of program and clinical faculty to their students, the profession and the community of interest. It cited the open availability of the program faculty to their students, and the clinical faculty’s dedication to mentoring and molding the students into practitioners.
The re-accreditation committee noted the dedication and humanity exhibited by the students: “They are compassionate, focused, and are passionate about the profession and the community they will one day serve.”
Other strengths cited by the committee included “an advisory committee that has been instrumental in guiding and shaping the program into its present evolution,” and “a strong medical director [William Dittrich, M.D., with St. Luke’s Idaho Pulmonary Associates] who extends the students’ learning and increases their value to the field as the medical environment continues to change.”
In terms of facilities, the committee was impressed by the utilization of the simulation lab as a method to evaluate inter-rater reliability among clinical faculty. They wrote: “This technique should continue to be utilized, fine-tuned and then presented at a national conference as one model of evaluation.”
The College of Health Sciences was commended in the CoARC report for assuring the respiratory care program’s access to self-support funds will go towards faculty professional development and program enhancement.
The committee praised the program’s communication with its clinical affiliates and clinical faculty, and was impressed by the degree completion program, which it cited as “a model that should be shared with other institutions.”
At their July 2013 meeting, CoARC will assess whether the respiratory care program is in compliance with the standards and guidelines for the profession of respiratory care, taking into account the entire accreditation record for the program, including this last comprehensive review conducted by the CoARC committee.