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
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