Respiratory care is an allied health discipline that specializes in cardiopulmonary function and health. Respiratory therapists apply scientific principles to prevent, identify, and treat acute and chronic dysfunction of the cardiopulmonary system. Respiratory care specifically focuses on the assessment, treatment, management, control, diagnostic evaluation, education, and care of patients with acute and chronic deficiencies and abnormalities of the cardiopulmonary system. The primary purpose of a formal respiratory care educational program is to prepare competent respiratory therapists for practice across numerous health care venues. According to the American Association for Respiratory Care Steering Committee of the Coalition for Baccalaureate and Graduate Respiratory Therapy Education (AARC Steering Committee, 2003a), clinical research has empowered respiratory therapists with additional therapeutic techniques, medications, and medical devices used to evaluate and treat patients with progressively more complex cardiopulmonary disorders. The purpose of this quantitative research study was to explore whether respiratory therapy students graduating from baccalaureate degree respiratory therapy programs had greater critical thinking skills than respiratory therapy students graduating from associate degree respiratory therapy programs. This research study explored if there were differences in the critical thinking skills for respiratory therapy students with associate degrees from colleges and respiratory therapy students with baccalaureate degrees. The population for this study was respiratory therapy students, from four of the six southeastern Pennsylvania respiratory therapy programs. These students attained associate degrees from colleges and baccalaureate degrees from a university by June 2012. The participants completed the Health Sciences Reasoning Test (HSRT) which was administered by Insight Assessment. The HSRT was designed as a 33-item multiple choice format test and was administered in a 50 minute setting. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]