WC News

Weatherford College’s respiratory care program received the President’s Award for Excellence in Credentialing Success from the Commission on Accreditation for Respiratory Care this Monday in Palm Springs, California.  

This is the first time the program has received this recognition from CoARC, the organization responsible for accreditation of associate, baccalaureate and graduate-level degree respiratory care programs in the United States.  

“We are honored to receive this award which is the cumulative effort of a like-minded team striving toward a common vision of growth, success and leadership in the respiratory care profession,” said Tonya Piehl, program director. “From full-time instructors to knowledgeable clinical adjuncts, to students and graduates, we are all here to fulfill that vision.”  

There are 47 students enrolled in the program starting this fall semester that includes 65 credit hours across a variety of lectures and clinical courses to prepare students to care for patients of all ages.  

The two-year program maintains a 100 percent pass rate on credentialing exams and a 100 percent job placement rate or acceptance into advanced degree programs.  

“Our bedside clinical instruction given by Weatherford College instructors helps to bring the didactic information to the bedside,” said Christel Brenner, director of clinical education for the program. “The students are able to piece together the classroom knowledge and utilize it to improve their patient care in the hospital. I believe this helps students to perform well on the national board exams.”  

In order to receive the President’s Award for Excellence in Credentialing Success, programs were required to have three or more years of outcomes data, hold accreditation without a progress report, document Registered Respiratory Therapist (RRT) credentialing success of 100 percent and meet or exceed established CoARC thresholds for the Therapist Multiple Choice (TMC) high cut score and retention.  

According to the most recent annual report from CoARC, WC’s respiratory care program is the top program in the state of Texas based on the TMC high cut scored and RRT credentialing success and is tied for top in the nation with 22 other high-performing programs.  

“I am honored to work with Tonya and Christel who have served this program selflessly for years and fostered a culture of caring and excellence,” said instructor Samantha Cowling, who is a 2011 graduate of the WC program. “This culture begins with the passion we all have to extend knowledge to our students. This care, passion and knowledge is further developed in the clinical setting as the students help their patients.  

“Our greatest joy is watching the students achieve their goals as they navigate our program, take their credentialing examinations and become critical thinking registered respiratory therapists.”