A Needs and Value Assessment in Developing a Saudi Board of Respiratory Therapy

BACKGROUND: RT was primarily introduced in Saudi Arabia by military hospitals beginning in the late 1970s. Currently, Saudi Arabia does not have a certification board for RT and, therefore, all of the RTs in Saudi Arabia who graduated from national colleges do not have credentials. PURPOSE: The purpose of the study was to evaluate the need for developing a board for RT in Saudi Arabia, and also to determine how Saudi RTs perceived the value of certification board for RT. METHODS: Data were collected through a descriptive survey. The survey was used to examine the assessment of need to develop SBRT, and to determine how Saudi RTs perceived the value of certification. The weblink survey was e-mailed to all RTs who are member of the Saudi Society for Respiratory Care (SCRC), which has total of 750 members. The survey consisted of two parts: Assessment of need for SBRT, and perceived value certification tool (PVCT). RESULTS: two hundreds and forty responded with a response rate of 32%. Eighty percent of the participants were male, and 18% were female. Fifty three percent of the participants identified themselves as credentialed RTs, and 46% participants were noncredentialed RTs. The participants’ degree level reported was Associate degree (13%), Bachelor’s degree (63%), Master’s degree (21%), and Doctoral degree (3%). Ninety percent of the participants work for the government institutions, whereas 10 % work for the private institutions. There was no statistically significant difference at the level of 0.05 between credentialed RTs and non-credentialed in terms of the perception towards the development of SBRT (z = -1.81, p= .071). There is also no statistically significant difference between credentialed and non-credentialed (p =. 779) at the level of .05 in terms of how they perceived the certification value. CONCLUSION: These findings can provide SRTs the opportunity to promote and discuss the development of the KSA certification board within the field of RT.