Physical Therapist Assistant Essay

Many students have thought about the different variety of jobs that can be obtain after becoming a Physical Therapist Assistant. The goal of the college is to highly prepare professional specialists with basic communication skills such as reading, writing, listening, and speaking. These skills are necessary for a Physical Therapist Assistant. According to American Physical Therapy Association, there are minimum required skills that have to be familiar to a Physical Therapist Assistant.

The first communication skill that needs to be achieved is reading, a PTA is required to be able to read all physical therapy documentation, including initial examination and plan of care. Initial examination and plan of care include material from the primary
physical therapist such as note indications, goals, expected outcomes that need to be read and covered by the PTA. At the same time, PTA needs to be aware of updates by reading professional literature in order to improve the professional skills. It is important for the PTA to be proficient in reading skills in order to give the patient the appropriate treatment and to keep a professional relationship with the PT.

The second skill is writing, they are used to inform, communicate, and to document in a physical therapy setting. These factors are very important for a PTA because they need to be able to interpret data into words and paraphrase difficult information so it can be easily understood to everyone that is involved in the patients plan of care. PTAs need to have exceptional writing skills because it will become useful in the career when explaining the correct information to there patient. The biggest mistake students make in writing in this field is using incorrect medical terminology or misinterpreting data. To prevent that mistake PTAs, have to be professional with the writing skills.

The third communication skill is listening, PTAs use listening skill when communicating with the Physical Therapist when there are significant changes in the patient’s medical status, physician referral, or when the criticality and complexity of the patient is beyond the knowledge, skills, and abilities of the PTA.
Listening skill are also used to communicate with patients, where the PTA has to understand the information and be sure that information is understood clearly and correctly. In order to receive correct information, the receiver has to pay full attention, use body gestures, and provide eye contact to receive correct message from the patient. Listening is an important skill that the PTA needs to have in order to understand and interpret the message from there patients.

Speaking is the last skill that needs to be used by a PTA for example, in explaining a rationale for selected interventions to achieve patient goals as identified in the plan of care, providing competent provision of Physical Therapy intervention, including therapeutic exercises, functional training self-care and home management. The patient needs to be provided clear instructions (verbal, visual) which are very important to achieve goals.

Reading, writing, listening, and speaking are the four skills that will help PTA become successful in their career. If the PTA is unable to provide the correct communication skills it will effect the patient and the professionals that are involved in the plan of
care.