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Health Professions - Physical Therapy Assistant – About the Program
Updated October 4, 2009
The Physical Therapist Assistant program is a two-year concentrated program and requires good reading, time management and study skills. Students are encouraged to have developed strong computer and internet-use skills prior to applying to the program.
Courses include human body systems, professionalism and ethics, contemporary practice issues, diversity in health care, communication, PT/PTA relationship and scope of practice, psychosocial impacts in physical therapy treatment, basic mathematics, applied kinesiology, physical therapy foundations and treatment interventions for simple and complex conditions (soft tissue injury, general medical, orthopedic, neurological, and complex medical dysfunction), and cooperative education.
PTA lectures are offered through distance learning (on-line). First year PTA students are on campus for a full day, one day a week. Second year PTA student attend distance learning classes, complete on-campus labs, and complete one full-time 6 week cooperative education clinical rotation each term. Students may have to travel to cooperative education sites more than 60 miles from the college campus in order to complete program requirements for graduation. There may be additional travel and lodging costs to the student when enrolled in cooperative education.
PTA courses must be taken in sequence and have prerequisites. In addition to lecture credit course work, students can expect no less than 6 hours of on-campus laboratory instruction per week each term.
Students are expected to participate in hands-on practice with instructors and classmates at a level demonstrated by the instructor(s). Students are expected to repeatedly practice techniques during scheduled and unscheduled practice to achieve learning outcomes.
Students may refuse to participate in specific laboratory activities after discussion with the instructor and an alternative activity or assignment may be required in order to meet the course objectives. Course objectives that can not be met due to student refusal to participate may result in failing the course.
Prerequisites for the program, required documentation and additional application requirements are included in the application information on the PTA program webpage. Program-eligible students must attend a mandatory orientation and complete required documentation in order to enroll in PTA courses.
In addition to regular tuition and fees, PTA laboratory courses have supply fees. As of March 2009, the projected additional fee for each PTA lab course is $189.
To help students succeed, Academic Learning Skills offers Effective Learning (EL115H): a credit class focused on study skills for students in health careers programs. Tutoring Services offers one-on-one tutoring in a variety of subject areas at no cost to students.
For a detailed look at the required curriculum, go to the online catalog. Physical Therapist Assistant. * (.pdf)