We calculated that 26% of Physical Therapist Assistants are proficient in Patients, Rehabilitation, and Home Health. They’re also known for soft skills such as Dexterity, Compassion, and Detail oriented.
We break down the percentage of Physical Therapist Assistants that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Patients, 26%
Provided quality out-patient treatment, education and instruction and progression of therapeutic exercise programs for patients with trauma related injuries
- Rehabilitation, 15%
Practiced specialized post-orthopedic surgery recovery and rehabilitation.
- Home Health, 11%
Provided physical therapy to a diverse population covering a variety of medical condition in home health and assisted living facility.
- PTA, 7%
Performed various Physical Therapy interventions under the direct supervision of a PTA clinical instructor.
- Physical Therapy Treatment, 5%
Prepared patients for physical therapy treatment by welcoming, comforting, providing and/or assisting patients into physical therapy apparel or apertures.
- Quality Care, 4%
Facilitated Care Plan meetings with family caregivers and other disciplines to deliver quality care to every patient.
Build a professional Physical Therapist Assistant resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume.
Most physical therapist assistants list "patients," "rehabilitation," and "home health" as skills on their resumes. We go into more details on the most important physical therapist assistant responsibilities here:
Arguably the most important personality trait for a physical therapist assistant to have happens to be dexterity. An example from a resume said this about the skill, "physical therapist assistants should be comfortable using their hands to provide manual therapy and therapeutic exercises" Additionally, other resumes have pointed out that physical therapist assistants can use dexterity to "provided hands-on soft tissue massage, manual and mechanical traction. " While it may not be the most important skill, we found that many physical therapist assistant duties rely on compassion. This example from a physical therapist assistant explains why: "physical therapist assistants and aides should enjoy helping people." This resume example is just one of many ways physical therapist assistants are able to utilize compassion: "displayed compassion, coaching, motivation, and patient safety skills during all physical therapy treatments. " Another skill that is quite popular among physical therapist assistants is detail oriented. This skill is very critical to fulfilling every day responsibilities as is shown in this example from a physical therapist assistant resume: "like other healthcare professionals, physical therapist assistants and aides should be organized and have a keen eye for detail" This example from a resume shows how this skill is used: "established a good rapport with patients and support staff insuring a team-oriented approach to patient treatment. " In order for certain physical therapist assistant responsibilities to be completed, the job requires the skill "interpersonal skills." According to a physical therapist assistant resume, "physical therapist assistants and aides spend much of their time interacting with patients, their families, and other healthcare practitioners; therefore, they should be courteous and friendly." As an example, this snippet was taken directly from a resume about how this skill applies: "direct interpersonal communication with patients and family during discharge planning and treatment. " See the full list of physical therapist assistant skills.
Before becoming a physical therapist assistant, 23.9% earned their bachelor's degree. When it comes down to graduating with a master's degree, 2.2% physical therapist assistants went for the extra education. If you're wanting to pursue this career, it may be possible to be successful with a high school degree. In fact, some physical therapist assistants have a college degree. But about one out of every three physical therapist assistants didn't attend college at all.
Those physical therapist assistants who do attend college, typically earn either a physical therapy degree or a medical assisting services degree. Less commonly earned degrees for physical therapist assistants include a kinesiology degree or a business degree.
Once you're ready to become a physical therapist assistant, you should explore the companies that typically hire physical therapist assistants. According to physical therapist assistant resumes that we searched through, physical therapist assistants are hired the most by Reliant Rehabilitation, HealthPRO, and Genesis HealthCare. Currently, Reliant Rehabilitation has 545 physical therapist assistant job openings, while there are 514 at HealthPRO and 371 at Genesis HealthCare.
Since salary is important to some physical therapist assistants, it's good to note that they are figured to earn the highest salaries at Children's Hospital Colorado, Brigham and Women's Hospital, and Massachusetts General Hospital. If you were to take a closer look at Children's Hospital Colorado, you'd find that the average physical therapist assistant salary is $72,003. Then at Brigham and Women's Hospital, physical therapist assistants receive an average salary of $66,863, while the salary at Massachusetts General Hospital is $66,609.
View more details on physical therapist assistant salaries across the United States.
Some other companies you might be interested in as a physical therapist assistant include Physiotherapy Associates, PHYSICAL THERAPY ASSOCIATES, INC., and Encompass Health. These three companies were found to hire the most physical therapist assistants from the top 100 U.S. educational institutions.