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.

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Rehabilitation Aide Responsibilities

Here are examples of responsibilities from real rehabilitation aide resumes representing typical tasks they are likely to perform in their roles.

  • 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 Job Description

Between the years 2018 and 2028, rehabilitation aide jobs are expected to undergo a growth rate described as "much faster than average" at 26%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. So if the thought "should I become a rehabilitation aide?" Has crossed your mind, maybe you should take the growth rate into account. In addition, the number of rehabilitation aide opportunities that are projected to become available by 2028 is 38,000.

Rehabilitation aides average about $13.6 an hour, which makes the rehabilitation aide annual salary $28,284. Additionally, rehabilitation aides are known to earn anywhere from $22,000 to $35,000 a year. This means that the top-earning rehabilitation aides make $11,000 more than the lowest earning ones.

It's hard work to become a rehabilitation aide, but even the most dedicated employees consider switching careers from time to time. Whether you're interested in a more challenging position or just looking for a fresh start, we've compiled extensive information on becoming a physical therapy technician, physical therapy attendant, staff physical therapy assistant, and physical therapist assistant.

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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.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Rehabilitation Aide Resume templates

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Rehabilitation Aide Resume

Most rehabilitation aides list "patients," "rehabilitation," and "cpr" as skills on their resumes. We go into more details on the most important rehabilitation aide responsibilities here:

  • The most important skills for a rehabilitation aide to have in this position are dexterity. In this excerpt that we gathered from a rehabilitation aide resume, you'll understand why: "physical therapist assistants should be comfortable using their hands to provide manual therapy and therapeutic exercises" According to resumes we found, dexterity can be used by a rehabilitation aide in order to "participated in and administered several body mechanic in-services with the goal of improving lifting mechanics and patient transfers for nursing staffs. "
  • While it may not be the most important skill, we found that many rehabilitation aide duties rely on physical stamina. This example from a rehabilitation aide explains why: "physical therapist assistants and aides are frequently on their feet and moving as they work with their patients." This resume example is just one of many ways rehabilitation aides are able to utilize physical stamina: "showed that ability to follow the basic physical therapy techniques need to improve that patient's movement, stamina and coordination. "
  • Compassion is also an important skill for rehabilitation aides to have. This example of how rehabilitation aides use this skill comes from a rehabilitation aide resume, "physical therapist assistants and aides should enjoy helping people" Read this excerpt from a resume to understand how vital it is to their everyday roles and responsibilities, "distinguished by supervisor and patients for providing high-quality and compassionate care. "
  • A rehabilitation aide responsibilities sometimes require "detail oriented." The responsibilities that rely on this skills are shown by this resume excerpt: "like other healthcare professionals, physical therapist assistants and aides should be organized and have a keen eye for detail" This resume example shows how this skill is used by rehabilitation aides: "trained and oriented new physical therapy patients. "
  • Another common skill for a rehabilitation aide to be able to utilize is "interpersonal skills." 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. A rehabilitation aide demonstrated the need for this skill by putting this on their resume: "well-developed interpersonal skills, keeping members of the staff, with communication of current patient treatment status. "
  • See the full list of rehabilitation aide skills.

    We've found that 60.2% of rehabilitation aides have earned a bachelor's degree. Furthermore, 4.3% earned their master's degrees before becoming a rehabilitation aide. While it's true that most rehabilitation aides have a college degree, it's generally possible to become one with only a high school degree. In fact, one out of every seven rehabilitation aides did not spend the extra money to attend college.

    The rehabilitation aides who went onto college to earn a more in-depth education generally studied kinesiology and psychology, while a small population of rehabilitation aides studied biology and physical therapy.

    Once you've obtained the level of education you're comfortable with, you might start applying to companies to become a rehabilitation aide. We've found that most rehabilitation aide resumes include experience from Select Medical, Hackensack Meridian Health, and Atlantic Health. Of recent, Select Medical had 30 positions open for rehabilitation aides. Meanwhile, there are 24 job openings at Hackensack Meridian Health and 19 at Atlantic Health.

    But if you're interested in companies where you might earn a high salary, rehabilitation aides tend to earn the biggest salaries at Lifespan, AltaMed Health Services, and Sutter Health. Take Lifespan for example. The median rehabilitation aide salary is $34,120. At AltaMed Health Services, rehabilitation aides earn an average of $34,075, while the average at Sutter Health is $33,435. You should take into consideration how difficult it might be to secure a job with one of these companies.

    View more details on rehabilitation aide salaries across the United States.

    If you earned a degree from the top 100 educational institutions in the United States, you might want to take a look at Michigan State University, Athletico, and Miami University. These three companies have hired a significant number of rehabilitation aides from these institutions.

    The three companies that hire the most prestigious rehabilitation aides are:

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    What Physical Therapy Technicians Do

    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.

    In this section, we compare the average rehabilitation aide annual salary with that of a physical therapy technician. Typically, physical therapy technicians earn a $6,877 higher salary than rehabilitation aides earn annually.

    While the salaries between these two careers can be different, they do share some of the same responsibilities. Employees in both rehabilitation aides and physical therapy technicians positions are skilled in patients, rehabilitation, and cpr.

    As far as similarities go, this is where it ends because a rehabilitation aide responsibility requires 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." So if you're looking for what truly separates the two careers, you've found it.

    Physical therapy technicians receive the highest salaries in the health care industry coming in with an average yearly salary of $32,442. But 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 is a bit different than that of 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.

    What Are The Duties Of a 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.

    The next role we're going to look at is the physical therapy attendant profession. Typically, this position earns a higher pay. In fact, they earn a $11,040 higher salary than rehabilitation aides per year.

    A similarity between the two careers of rehabilitation aides and physical therapy attendants are a few of the skills associated with both roles. We used resumes from both professions to find that both use skills like "rehabilitation," "patient treatment," and "direct patient care. "

    While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, several resumes showed us that rehabilitation aide responsibilities requires skills like "patients," "cpr," "direct supervision," and "cleanliness." But a physical therapy attendant might use skills, such as, "acute care," "customer service," "chart audits," and "data collection."

    When it comes to the differences in education between the two professions, 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.

    How a Staff Physical Therapy Assistant Compares

    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.

    Let's now take a look at the staff physical therapy assistant profession. On average, these workers make higher salaries than rehabilitation aides with a $23,597 difference per year.

    While looking through the resumes of several rehabilitation aides and staff physical therapy assistants we discovered that both professions have similar skills. These similarities include skills such as "patients," "rehabilitation," and "cpr," but they differ when it comes to other required skills.

    There are many key differences between these two careers as shown by resumes from each profession. Some of those differences include the skills required to complete responsibilities within each role. As an example of this, 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. Whereas rehabilitation aides are paid the highest salary in the health care industry with the average being $29,100.

    Staff physical therapy assistants typically study at similar levels compared with 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.

    Description Of a Physical Therapist Assistant

    Physical therapist assistants tend to earn a higher pay than rehabilitation aides by about $24,751 per year.

    While their salaries may vary, rehabilitation aides and physical therapist assistants both use similar skills to perform their jobs. Resumes from both professions include skills like "patients," "rehabilitation," and "direct supervision. "

    While some skills are shared by these professions, there are some differences to note. "cpr," "cleanliness," "data entry," and "occupational therapy" are skills that have shown up on rehabilitation aides resumes. Additionally, physical therapist assistant uses skills like pta, quality care, snf, and pet on their resumes.

    Now, let's take a closer look at the financials in each career. The professional industry tends to pay more for physical therapist assistants with an average of $52,806. While the highest rehabilitation aide annual salary comes from the health care industry.

    The average resume of physical therapist assistants showed that they earn similar levels of education to rehabilitation aides. So much so that the likelihood of them earning a Master's Degree is 2.1% less. Additionally, they're less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree by 0.8%.