Increasing Standards

[buzzlit3year]

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Hello everyone I was wondering why the profession of physical therapy has gone from a Bachelor's degree, to a master's and now at the level of a doctorate. I am not against this because coming May I will begin pt school. My question is why physical therapy assistants still only need an associate's degree to be practicing. I am not saying anything negative about PTAs but should this standard of education be increased as well? Maybe a Bachelor's in the future.

What do students, practicing pts, or ptas think?

 

[ewozob]

I think there are a few reasons for the increase in education requirements of PTs. A major trend of late is the option for direct access to PTs. With direct access more responsibility falls onto PTs to be familiar with all aspects of the patient's health and ailments as they may not have an eval/diagnosis from a doctor to guide them. Additionally, as the fields of science and healthcare progress there is more to learn... everything that a PT must learn (and learn WELL!) could not be condensed into the short time it takes to complete a bachelors (when you consider the many gen. ed classes/electives that must also be fulfilled before completing an undergraduate education). Just my 2 cents, I'm sure others will have other ideas as well.

 

[Myosin]

We could go on a tangent about how the APTA messed up with direct access or how a higher degree doesn't make a better therapist, but there's a lot more to this than just quality of care.

Every field is increasing the education requirements. It has little to do with quality of care and more to do with competition. As more and more people enter the work force, the requirements are only going to get higher and higher to separate people.

It's only a matter of time until the PTA goes to a bachelors degree and the OT program goes to a doctorate.

The RN programs are pushing to require a bachelors, and with how fast nursing is growing, they could very well end up at a masters within the next two decades, and the nurse practitioner will go to a doctorate degree.

I've even heard the Physicians Assistant program is pushing for a doctorate too. That means you'll have a Dr. Physicians Assistant. Blows my mind

The bachelors degree is already the new high school diploma.

 

[HouseDPT]

We could go on a tangent about how the APTA messed up with direct access or how a higher degree doesn't make a better therapist, but there's a lot more to this than just quality of care.

Every field is increasing the education requirements. It has little to do with quality of care and more to do with competition. As more and more people enter the work force, the requirements are only going to get higher and higher to separate people.

It's only a matter of time until the PTA goes to a bachelors degree and the OT program goes to a doctorate.

The RN programs are pushing to require a bachelors, and with how fast nursing is growing, they could very well end up at a masters within the next two decades, and the nurse practitioner will go to a doctorate degree.

I've even heard the Physicians Assistant program is pushing for a doctorate too. That means you'll have a Dr. Physicians Assistant. Blows my mind

The bachelors degree is already the new high school diploma.

Although I agree with this, I do want to point out that only a fourth of the United States' population above 25 have earned a bachelor's degree. I think it's important to keep that perspective as people in our social class clamor to get higher and more prestigious degrees. The Joneses are smiling down on us.