Lane Community College - Health Professions

Physical Therapist Assistant - Program of Study

Updated March 3, 2009

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.

The Physical Therapist Assistant program is a two-year concentrated program and will require good reading and study skills. Students are encouraged to have developed strong computer and internet-use skills prior to applying to the program.

PTA courses must be taken in sequence and will have established 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, as well as unscheduled laboratory practice. PTA lecture courses are delivered in an on-line format, using Moodle (LCC course management system).

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 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.

Students spend a minimum of 18 weeks in 3 full-time six week cooperative education in community education sites. Students may have to travel to cooperative education sites more than 60 miles from the college campus in order to complete cooperative education requirements for graduation. Students are responsible for travel and lodging costs associated with required cooperative education course work.

Prerequisites for the program, required documentation and additional application requirements are included in the application information on the PTA program webpage. Upon acceptance into the PTA program, there is a mandatory orientation and documentation requirements prior to admission.

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) * (Requires Adobe Reader)