What does a rehabilitation aide do?
A rehabilitation aide is responsible for assisting patients with injuries, mental disorders, and illnesses in their treatment plans and medications. Rehabilitation aides monitor the patients' progress and update attending physicians regarding their conditions. They also prepare treatment rooms, including the materials and equipment for the medical procedures, and discuss the process with the patients. A rehabilitation aide must be highly organizational, especially in attending to different patients' needs and ensuring the safety and security of all facilities and assets.
Rehabilitation aide responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real rehabilitation aide resumes:
- Manage inventory of supplies and splints for the department.
- Manage organization and cleanliness of therapy room and equipment.
- Help patients who used wheelchairs and walkers.
- Assist patients with ADL's, collect lab specimens, perform EKG's, occasionally perform duty as a patient sitter.
- Assist physical therapists and occupational hand therapist in implementing rehabilitation programs for patients in an outpatient orthopedics and hand therapy clinic.
- Assist OTR/L in patient education and DME distribution at SNF
- Set patients up with modalities, electrical stimulators, cervical and lumbar traction units.
- Develop and implement activities to work on FM and ADL skills with children on the autistic spectrum
- Train in CPR for adults, children and infants, along with how to use a and first aid.
- Provide maintenance of equipment, supply inventory, department cleanliness.
- Organize, clean and sterilize equipment including gait and ambulatory walkers.
- Participate in team rehabilitation meetings and clinician coordination with providers and staff to ensure the utilization of available resources.
- Facilitate daily administrative functions, including greeting patients during check in, communicating patient information and arrival to correct provider.
- Assist in the rehabilitation protocols for physical therapists, occupational therapists, physical therapy assistants, and speech language pathologists.
- Plan activities base on assign student's IEP to encourage appropriate independence and facilitate/support student's participation in all activities.
Rehabilitation aide skills and personality traits
We calculated that 34% of Rehabilitation Aides are proficient in Patients, Rehabilitation, and CPR. They’re also known for soft skills such as Dexterity, Physical stamina, and Compassion.
We break down the percentage of Rehabilitation Aides that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Patients, 34%
Assisted physical therapists and occupational hand therapist in implementing rehabilitation programs for patients in an outpatient orthopedics and hand therapy clinic.
- Rehabilitation, 18%
Concord, NH 50-bed facility providing intense level of comprehensive rehabilitation services designed to return patients active & independent lives.
- CPR, 6%
Trained in CPR for adults, children and infants, along with how to use AED and first aid.
- Direct Supervision, 5%
Distribute materials to patients for use in treatment activities and/or administers material to patient under direct supervision of a licensed therapist.
- Cleanliness, 5%
Provided maintenance of equipment, supply inventory, department cleanliness.
- Data Entry, 4%
Received positive feedback for maintained medical record, and data entry, filing, and researched old files for audits.
Most rehabilitation aides use their skills in "patients," "rehabilitation," and "cpr" to do their jobs. You can find more detail on essential rehabilitation aide responsibilities here:
Dexterity. The most essential soft skill for a rehabilitation aide to carry out their responsibilities is dexterity. This skill is important for the role because "physical therapist assistants should be comfortable using their hands to provide manual therapy and therapeutic exercises." Additionally, a rehabilitation aide resume shows how their duties depend on dexterity: "participated in and administered several body mechanic in-services with the goal of improving lifting mechanics and patient transfers for nursing staffs. "
Physical stamina. Many rehabilitation aide duties rely on physical stamina. "physical therapist assistants and aides are frequently on their feet and moving as they work with their patients," so a rehabilitation aide will need this skill often in their role. This resume example is just one of many ways rehabilitation aide responsibilities rely on physical stamina: "showed that ability to follow the basic physical therapy techniques need to improve that patient's movement, stamina and coordination. "
Compassion. This is an important skill for rehabilitation aides to perform their duties. For an example of how rehabilitation aide responsibilities depend on this skill, consider that "physical therapist assistants and aides should enjoy helping people." This excerpt from a resume also shows how vital it is to everyday roles and responsibilities of a rehabilitation aide: "distinguished by supervisor and patients for providing high-quality and compassionate care. ".
Detail oriented. rehabilitation aide responsibilities often require "detail oriented." The duties that rely on this skill are shown by the fact that "physical therapist assistants and aides should be organized, keep accurate records, and follow written and verbal instructions carefully to ensure quality care." This resume example shows what rehabilitation aides do with detail oriented on a typical day: "trained and oriented new physical therapy patients. "
Interpersonal skills. Another common skill required for rehabilitation aide responsibilities is "interpersonal skills." This skill comes up in the duties of rehabilitation aides all the time, as "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." An excerpt from a real rehabilitation aide resume shows how this skill is central to what a rehabilitation aide does: "well-developed interpersonal skills, keeping members of the staff, with communication of current patient treatment status. "
The three companies that hire the most rehabilitation aides are:
- Select Medical30 rehabilitation aides jobs
- Hackensack Meridian Health24 rehabilitation aides jobs
- Atlantic Health19 rehabilitation aides jobs
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Compare different rehabilitation aides
Rehabilitation aide vs. Physical therapy technician
A physical therapy technician supports both the physical therapists and their physical therapy assistants in planning and implementing patient care. You are expected to perform varied duties and responsibilities that include responding to patients' requests for assistance, assisting with patient preparation before treatment, and maintaining the equipment used by the physical therapist during treatment sessions. In addition, you will be responsible for maintaining patient satisfaction and patient confidentiality. A physical therapy technician will also perform some administrative tasks such as overseeing inventory and scheduling appointments and treatments.
While similarities exist, there are also some differences between rehabilitation aides and physical therapy technician. For instance, rehabilitation aide responsibilities require skills such as "cleanliness," "data entry," "restraints," and "compassion." Whereas a physical therapy technician is skilled in "patient care," "customer service," "physical therapy equipment," and "patient scheduling." This is part of what separates the two careers.
Physical therapy technicians earn the highest salaries when working in the health care industry, with an average yearly salary of $32,442. On the other hand, rehabilitation aides are paid more in the health care industry with an average salary of $29,100.The education levels that physical therapy technicians earn slightly differ from rehabilitation aides. In particular, physical therapy technicians are 0.3% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than a rehabilitation aide. Additionally, they're 0.0% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Rehabilitation aide vs. Physical therapy attendant
A staff physical therapy assistant's role is to provide treatments while under the supervision and directives of a physical therapist. Their responsibilities primarily revolve around assisting patients and therapists, documenting all treatment processes, providing care advice to patients and their families, and monitoring a patient's progress, alerting the physician should there be any concerns or unusual behavior. Furthermore, a staff physical therapy assistant may perform clerical duties such as gathering patient information, managing schedules, arranging appointments, answering calls and inquiries, and maintaining records.
While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, resumes show us that rehabilitation aide responsibilities requires skills like "patients," "cpr," "direct supervision," and "cleanliness." But a physical therapy attendant might use other skills in their typical duties, such as, "acute care," "customer service," "chart audits," and "data collection."
Average education levels between the two professions vary. Physical therapy attendants tend to reach similar levels of education than rehabilitation aides. In fact, they're 2.1% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.0% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Rehabilitation aide vs. Staff physical therapy assistant
A physical therapist assistant's role is to provide treatments that will help a patient improve physical movements while under a physical therapist's supervision. Their responsibilities revolve around regularly observing a patient's reaction and progress to the treatment, operating various machines such as treadmills and trainers, and giving instructions to families on how to take care of the patient while at home. Furthermore, they must coordinate with a physical therapist to meet all of the patient's needs and give the best treatment possible.
There are many key differences between these two careers, including some of the skills required to perform responsibilities within each role. For example, a rehabilitation aide is likely to be skilled in "cleanliness," "data entry," "occupational therapy," and "restraints," while a typical staff physical therapy assistant is skilled in "customer service," "acute care," "physical therapy," and "treatment programs."
Staff physical therapy assistants make a very good living in the health care industry with an average annual salary of $50,971. On the other hand, rehabilitation aides are paid the highest salary in the health care industry, with average annual pay of $29,100.Most staff physical therapy assistants achieve a similar degree level compared to rehabilitation aides. For example, they're 0.3% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.4% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Rehabilitation aide vs. Physical therapist assistant
Types of rehabilitation aide
Updated January 8, 2025
