Anybody here ever work as a PTA?

[mlcl4]

If so , can you share your thoughts about being a PTA? Thanks.

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[lawguil]

If so , can you share your thoughts about being a PTA? Thanks.

I'm not a PTA, but I have worked with them!

Great field! Requires associates degree, make from 25-35k year. You work under the supervision of a PT and can perform most of the patient care. A PT will perform the initial evaluation and design a plan of care. The PTA can then carry out the plan. The PT will follow up with the patient every so often check the progress and for discharge.

PTA's perform mobilizations, manual therapy, modalities, and instruct/follow patients during therapeutic exercises. Considering that PT's are moving towards a clinical doctorate which means huge tuition and huge dept, and modest income, the PTA option should become more appealing for those simply interested in a career.

 

[kiukina57]

I'm not a PTA, but I have worked with them!

Great field! Requires associates degree, make from 25-35k year. You work under the supervision of a PT and can perform most of the patient care. A PT will perform the initial evaluation and design a plan of care. The PTA can then carry out the plan. The PT will follow up with the patient every so often check the progress and for discharge.

PTA's perform mobilizations, manual therapy, modalities, and instruct/follow patients during therapeutic exercises. Considering that PT's are moving towards a clinical doctorate which means huge tuition and huge dept, and modest income, the PTA option should become more appealing for those simply interested in a career.

Being a PT I wanted to let you know that most states do not allow PTA's to legally performs mobs or other manual therapies and, depending on insurance coverage for the patients, PTA's are not supposed to carry out the plan unsupervised. You may want to check with the board in your home state to figure out what you will and will not be able to do as a PTA before making the commitment and taking courses. PTA's are usually able to do the most in outpatient ortho and sometimes acute care. I work in neuro rehab and we don't even use PTA's b/c the number of duties that they are legally able to perform in that setting is so limited.

 

[lawguil]

Being a PT I wanted to let you know that most states do not allow PTA's to legally performs mobs or other manual therapies and, depending on insurance coverage for the patients, PTA's are not supposed to carry out the plan unsupervised. You may want to check with the board in your home state to figure out what you will and will not be able to do as a PTA before making the commitment and taking courses. PTA's are usually able to do the most in outpatient ortho and sometimes acute care. I work in neuro rehab and we don't even use PTA's b/c the number of duties that they are legally able to perform in that setting is so limited.

PTA's in my state are allowed to perform mobs and are fully trained to perform them - hell you could train a monkey to do mobs. Don't let this tyrannical PT who might have a bit of a complex let you think that being a PT is something special. PTA's are well trained for what they do and have actually become the better choice professionally for most practical people. A "clinical doctorate" to become a PT just isn't practical nor is it a "doctorate" education. It's simply an entry level degree that will cost you so much to get and only earn you a modest income. PT's are big on politics, degree inflation, and insurance fraud. It's not something that I would be proud of.
Now I sound like a babbling buffoon, but it's the kinda the truth. L.

 

[MJFPT]

I was originally a PTA and am now a PT. I enjoyed being a PTA but felt limited in working with my patients. I really enjoy the evaluation and independent decision making part of being a PT versus the "treatment only" part of functioning as a PTA. There are some states in which a PTA's abililty to perform certain manual treatments is limited, but for the most part a PTA can perform most of the same treament as a PT, they just cannot evaluate or formally change the treatment plan without first consulting with the supervising PT. In my opinion, satisfaction in the workplace as a PTA depends largely on the PT supervising them. For example, the PT can be either very helpful and work as a team with the PTA, or they can act like they are vastly superior to the PTA and make things generally miserable for the PTA. As an assistant this is somewhat out of your control and you can be stuck with a schmuck for a PT.

 

[lawguil]

http://jobs.aol.com/article?id=20060316151409990001

Physical Therapist Assistant recognized as one of the fastest growing careers according to US Dept. of Labor. I don't think that PT's are on the list.


"How fast? Eight of the 20 fastest-growing occupations are in health care. More new hourly and salaried jobs -- about 19%, or 3.6 million -- created between 2004 and 2014 will be in health care than in any other industry, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.


Among the jobs with the fastest growth: home health aides, medical assistants, physician assistants, physical therapist assistants, dental hygienists, and personal and home care aides."

 

[MJFPT]

http://jobs.aol.com/article?id=20060316151409990001

Physical Therapist Assistant recognized as one of the fastest growing careers according to US Dept. of Labor. I don't think that PT's are on the list.


"How fast? Eight of the 20 fastest-growing occupations are in health care. More new hourly and salaried jobs -- about 19%, or 3.6 million -- created between 2004 and 2014 will be in health care than in any other industry, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.


Among the jobs with the fastest growth: home health aides, medical assistants, physician assistants, physical therapist assistants, dental hygienists, and personal and home care aides."

Lawguil- How come you are so negative towards PT's? Just wondering as your comments seem very jaded when any subject involving PT's come up. I am not sure that the original poster was looking for generic statistics on job outlooks. It seems to me as if the person wanted some insight as to what being a PTA was like on a day to day basis. I also don't think I read anywhere in the original post that this person was even contemplating becoming a PT versus a PTA.

 

[lawguil]

Lawguil- How come you are so negative towards PT's? Just wondering as your comments seem very jaded when any subject involving PT's come up. I am not sure that the original poster was looking for generic statistics on job outlooks. It seems to me as if the person wanted some insight as to what being a PTA was like on a day to day basis. I also don't think I read anywhere in the original post that this person was even contemplating becoming a PT versus a PTA.

As a teacher to PT students, I am troubled by the political ambitions of the ATPA. When this particular person asked the forum to share our thoughts about being a PTA - I shared my experiences. I think that research is needed with respect to physical therapy and the proper dose and utilization of services. I hypothesize that the physical therapy world provides millions of dollars of unneeded services every year and the APTA has been very successful at alluding research that would expose this hypothesis. Also, the APTA has done a good job of alienating other professions who offer similar skills and services by lobbying for legislation that would eliminate competition in physical medicine and rehabilitation (example: the recently adopted CMS regulations on 'incident to physician therapy services). The APTA has made a number of mandates that have nothing to do with education or competencies like mandating a move from an entry level BSPT to a MSPT to a DPT with minimal changes in the curriculum content, lobbying for direct access despite the fact that they aren't trained to make a diagnosis, can't refer for diagnostic tests such as lab test or radiograph (what good is training in differential diagnostics if you can't order or interpret the results), aren’t trained to detect certain conditions outside the field of NMS and movement related disorders and thus would be in a position of delivering inappropriate or contraindicated care, increasing the cost of malpractice claims, and lowering the standard or care while driving up health care costs (even more insurance fraud than currently exists).

They have experienced moderate success at the state level, but the fruit will only ripen if a decision is made at the federal level. I think they forget who will be affected and it's the people that have been scratching the APTA's back since the beginning....physicians and patients. I for one would like to see a role for the PTA that demonstrates more autonomy so that costs can be reduced without sacrificing patient care, evidence based outcomes and comparative analysis amongst different practitioners of physical medicine, and competition in our privatized healthcare system (aka-free enterprise). In this lye’s my dissent.