Physical Therapist Aide Under close supervision of a physical therapist or physical therapy assistant, perform only delegated, selected, or routine tasks in specific situations. These duties include preparing the patient and the treatment area.
Physical Therapist Aide is Also Know as
In different settings, Physical Therapist Aide is titled as
- Physical Therapist Aide (PTA)
- Physical Therapy Aide (PTA)
- PT Attendant (Physical Therapy Attendant)
- PT Tech (Physical Therapist Technician)
- PT Tech (Physical Therapy Technician)
- Rehabilitation Aide
- Rehabilitation Attendant
- Rehabilitation Technician (Rehabilitation Tech)
- Restorative Aide (RA)
- Therapy Aide
Education and Training of Physical Therapist Aide
Physical Therapist Aide is categorized in Job Zone Two: Some Preparation Needed
Experience Required for Physical Therapist Aide
Some previous work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is usually needed. For example, a teller would benefit from experience working directly with the public.
Education Required for Physical Therapist Aide
These occupations usually require a high school diploma.
Degrees Related to Physical Therapist Aide
- Bachelor in Rehabilitation Aide
- Associate Degree Courses in Rehabilitation Aide
- Masters Degree Courses in Rehabilitation Aide
- Bachelor in Physical Therapy Technician/Aide
- Associate Degree Courses in Physical Therapy Technician/Aide
- Masters Degree Courses in Physical Therapy Technician/Aide
Training Required for Physical Therapist Aide
Employees in these occupations need anywhere from a few months to one year of working with experienced employees. A recognized apprenticeship program may be associated with these occupations.
Related Ocuupations
Some Ocuupations related to Physical Therapist Aide in different industries are
- Physical Therapist Assistants
- Occupational Therapy Aides
- Occupational Therapy Assistants
- Psychiatric Aides
- Psychiatric Technicians
- Occupational Therapists
- Respiratory Therapists
- Medical Assistants
- Nursing Assistants
- Massage Therapists
- Physical Therapists
- Emergency Medicine Physicians
- Recreational Therapists
- Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Physicians
- Radiation Therapists
- Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses
- Home Health Aides
- Acute Care Nurses
- Advanced Practice Psychiatric Nurses
- Orthopedic Surgeons, Except Pediatric
What Do Physical Therapist Aide do?
- Clean and organize work area and disinfect equipment after treatment.
- Observe patients during treatment to compile and evaluate data on patients' responses and progress and report to physical therapist.
- Instruct, motivate, safeguard, or assist patients practicing exercises or functional activities, under direction of medical staff.
- Secure patients into or onto therapy equipment.
- Transport patients to and from treatment areas, using wheelchairs or providing standing support.
- Confer with physical therapy staff or others to discuss and evaluate patient information for planning, modifying, or coordinating treatment.
- Record treatment given and equipment used.
- Perform clerical duties, such as taking inventory, ordering supplies, answering telephone, taking messages, or filling out forms.
- Maintain equipment or furniture to keep it in good working condition, including performing the assembly or disassembly of equipment or accessories.
- Administer active or passive manual therapeutic exercises, therapeutic massage, or heat, light, sound, water, or electrical modality treatments, such as ultrasound.
- Change linens, such as bed sheets and pillow cases.
- Arrange treatment supplies to keep them in order.
- Assist patients to dress, undress, or put on and remove supportive devices, such as braces, splints, or slings.
- Measure patient's range-of-joint motion, body parts, or vital signs to determine effects of treatments or for patient evaluations.
- Train patients to use orthopedic braces, prostheses, or supportive devices.
- Fit patients for orthopedic braces, prostheses, or supportive devices, adjusting fit as needed.
- Participate in patient care tasks, such as assisting with passing food trays, feeding residents, or bathing residents on bed rest.
- Administer traction to relieve neck or back pain, using intermittent or static traction equipment.
- Schedule patient appointments with physical therapists and coordinate therapists' schedules.
Qualities of Good Physical Therapist Aide
- Oral Comprehension: The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
- Speech Recognition: The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
- Problem Sensitivity: The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem.
- Oral Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
- Near Vision: The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
- Written Comprehension: The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
- Speech Clarity: The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
- Trunk Strength: The ability to use your abdominal and lower back muscles to support part of the body repeatedly or continuously over time without "giving out" or fatiguing.
- Selective Attention: The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted.
- Information Ordering: The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
- Written Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
- Inductive Reasoning: The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
- Category Flexibility: The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
- Deductive Reasoning: The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
- Static Strength: The ability to exert maximum muscle force to lift, push, pull, or carry objects.
- Multilimb Coordination: The ability to coordinate two or more limbs (for example, two arms, two legs, or one leg and one arm) while sitting, standing, or lying down. It does not involve performing the activities while the whole body is in motion.
- Finger Dexterity: The ability to make precisely coordinated movements of the fingers of one or both hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble very small objects.
- Arm-Hand Steadiness: The ability to keep your hand and arm steady while moving your arm or while holding your arm and hand in one position.
- Perceptual Speed: The ability to quickly and accurately compare similarities and differences among sets of letters, numbers, objects, pictures, or patterns. The things to be compared may be presented at the same time or one after the other. This ability also includes comparing a presented object with a remembered object.
- Flexibility of Closure: The ability to identify or detect a known pattern (a figure, object, word, or sound) that is hidden in other distracting material.
- Extent Flexibility: The ability to bend, stretch, twist, or reach with your body, arms, and/or legs.
- Far Vision: The ability to see details at a distance.
- Gross Body Coordination: The ability to coordinate the movement of your arms, legs, and torso together when the whole body is in motion.
- Manual Dexterity: The ability to quickly move your hand, your hand together with your arm, or your two hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble objects.
- Stamina: The ability to exert yourself physically over long periods of time without getting winded or out of breath.
- Time Sharing: The ability to shift back and forth between two or more activities or sources of information (such as speech, sounds, touch, or other sources).
- Gross Body Equilibrium: The ability to keep or regain your body balance or stay upright when in an unstable position.
- Originality: The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.
- Dynamic Strength: The ability to exert muscle force repeatedly or continuously over time. This involves muscular endurance and resistance to muscle fatigue.
- Memorization: The ability to remember information such as words, numbers, pictures, and procedures.
- Visualization: The ability to imagine how something will look after it is moved around or when its parts are moved or rearranged.
- Auditory Attention: The ability to focus on a single source of sound in the presence of other distracting sounds.
- Fluency of Ideas: The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
- Speed of Closure: The ability to quickly make sense of, combine, and organize information into meaningful patterns.
- Control Precision: The ability to quickly and repeatedly adjust the controls of a machine or a vehicle to exact positions.
- Visual Color Discrimination: The ability to match or detect differences between colors, including shades of color and brightness.
- Depth Perception: The ability to judge which of several objects is closer or farther away from you, or to judge the distance between you and an object.
- Hearing Sensitivity: The ability to detect or tell the differences between sounds that vary in pitch and loudness.
- Mathematical Reasoning: The ability to choose the right mathematical methods or formulas to solve a problem.
- Number Facility: The ability to add, subtract, multiply, or divide quickly and correctly.
- Wrist-Finger Speed: The ability to make fast, simple, repeated movements of the fingers, hands, and wrists.
- Speed of Limb Movement: The ability to quickly move the arms and legs.
- Response Orientation: The ability to choose quickly between two or more movements in response to two or more different signals (lights, sounds, pictures). It includes the speed with which the correct response is started with the hand, foot, or other body part.
- Reaction Time: The ability to quickly respond (with the hand, finger, or foot) to a signal (sound, light, picture) when it appears.
- Rate Control: The ability to time your movements or the movement of a piece of equipment in anticipation of changes in the speed and/or direction of a moving object or scene.
- Dynamic Flexibility: The ability to quickly and repeatedly bend, stretch, twist, or reach out with your body, arms, and/or legs.
- Explosive Strength: The ability to use short bursts of muscle force to propel oneself (as in jumping or sprinting), or to throw an object.
- Night Vision: The ability to see under low-light conditions.
- Peripheral Vision: The ability to see objects or movement of objects to one's side when the eyes are looking ahead.
- Glare Sensitivity: The ability to see objects in the presence of a glare or bright lighting.
- Sound Localization: The ability to tell the direction from which a sound originated.
- Spatial Orientation: The ability to know your location in relation to the environment or to know where other objects are in relation to you.
Tools Used by Physical Therapist Aide
- Anti-embolism elastic stockings
- Blood pressure cuffs
- Canes
- Cold packs
- Crutches
- Electrical stimulation equipment
- Electronic blood pressure units
- Gait belts
- Hot packs
- Hydraulic lifts
- Hydrotherapy immersion baths
- Lower extremity prosthetic devices
- Notebook computers
- Orthopedic splint sets
- Orthotic devices
- Parallel bars
- Personal computers
- Therapeutic ultrasound equipment
- Upper extremity prosthetic devices
- Walkers
- Wheelchairs
Technology Skills required for Physical Therapist Aide
- Epic Systems
- Medical procedure coding software
- MEDITECH software
- Microsoft Excel
- Microsoft Office software
- Microsoft Outlook
- Microsoft Word
- Patient record maintenance software
- Scheduling software
- Word processing software