Benefits and costs to hospitals affiliating with a respiratory therapist educational program

The services provided and revenue generated by health science students are often not considered when hospital administrators calculate the costs of affiliating with educational programs.

We documented the services provided and revenue generated by one class of students being trained as therapists in a university program.

Fifteen students with no previous work experience in respiratory therapeutics who had demonstrated preclinical competencies for basic therapeutics and who were guided by quantitative clinical objectives collectively replaced the loss of clinical services and revenue of the staff therapists who were assigned to be their clinical instructors.

The use of a qualified staff therapist as a clinical instructor can be a cost-effective approach for providing clinical education in basic therapeutics, and the contributions that students make to hospital services should be considered when affiliation agreements are being negotiated.