Just saw an ad from Illinois. They were looking for a new PT director to join ONE PT and, get this, 8 Physical Therapist Assistant''s (PTA's)!!! They then claim they provide excellent quality care which seems rather difficult to comprehend.
EIM had a recent post discussing the existence of PTA's in healthcare. In most states PTA's are not allowed to evaluate, progress treatment, or perform certain types of interventions. Each state differs in their practice act. In theory the PTA grew out of the need of PT's to have an extra set of hands without the extended schooling (PTA practice requires a 2-year associates degree).
I certainly never want to pigeon-hole an entire group of people, as there are some amazing PTA's out there who get all sorts of advanced training and unfortunately there (supposedly) is only 1 pta to pt transition program making it difficult to transition.
I am running out of mobile blogging space... what is the place of PTA's within the context of VISION 2020?
"New professional" in the world of Physical Therapy refers to a graduate of a PT program in their first 5 years of practicing. These are my stories about the experience of "restoring function" to my patients as a NewPro. Changing lives one motion/(blog post?) at a time.
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1 comment:
Interesting question you pose at the end. At the upcoming APTA House of Delegates there will likely be a motion proposed to identify the role of the PTA in 2020. There are many questions about this motion, including how this is different from a motion that passed in 2001to create a task force looking into the future role of the PTA. A task force of 7 members presented a report to the 2003 House of Delegates summarizing the following (with my rough summary of a summary):
1) PTA scope of work: Determined by the supervising PT exclusively within the intervention component of the patient/client management model and in adherence with federal & state laws/regs/ethical standards etc.
2)PTA Entry-level Education: An education program culminating in the awarding of an associate degree is sufficient to prepare the PTA for entry into the workforce.
3) Post Entry-Lvel Educ and Enhanced Proficiency: Career development is essential for the PTA and includes clinical experience, continuing ed, increased skill proficiency, clinical mentoring and recognition.
4) PTA Employment and Market Factors: Although most PTA employment and market factors are outside the APTA's control employment, PTA employment opportunities with increase with the PT/PTA team is utilized and advocated.
So what else do they want to know that was not addressed by the task force 5 yrs ago? Many feel as if the PTA caucus did not get the answer they wanted and now have come up with this. Maybe?
Sorry for the length, but that's another take on it...
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