Automatically apply for jobs with Zippia

Upload your resume to get started.

Student physical therapist skills for your resume and career

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted experts

Jan Kretzschmar,

Jan Kretzschmar

Student physical therapist example skills

Below we've compiled a list of the most critical student physical therapist skills. We ranked the top skills for student physical therapists based on the percentage of resumes they appeared on. For example, 30.7% of student physical therapist resumes contained patients as a skill. Continue reading to find out what skills a student physical therapist needs to be successful in the workplace.

15 student physical therapist skills for your resume and career

1. Patients

Here's how student physical therapists use patients:

Designed rehabilitation program for numerous orthopedic conditions implementing conservative treatment for non- surgical patient and adhering to protocols for post-surgical patients.
Gained experience performing internal examinations in the setting of women's health and educating patients regarding management of urinary incontinence.

2. Occupational Therapy

Here's how student physical therapists use occupational therapy:

Communicated with nursing staff, occupational therapy staff, and patient families concerning patient status and recommendations.
Coordinated and co-treated patients with Occupational Therapist, Occupational Therapy Assistants, and Occupational Therapy students.

3. Rehabilitation

Here's how student physical therapists use rehabilitation:

Maintained an independent caseload and performed evaluations, examinations, and therapeutic interventions for skilled rehabilitation and long term care patients.
Expanded my understanding of health professional interdisciplinary collaboration/team-work after attending a pain management, audit meeting and daily rehabilitation service meetings.

4. Patient Care

Patient care entails the diagnosis, recovery, and control of sickness as well as the maintenance of physical and emotional well-being through the use of healthcare providers' services. Patient care is described as services provided to patients by health practitioners or non-professionals under guidance.

Here's how student physical therapists use patient care:

Participated in patient care conferences to educate the patient and family concerning patient progress and provided recommendations for discharge.
Coordinated patient care by effectively communicating with staff members across the interdisciplinary team according to clinical staff feedback.

5. Physical Therapy Assistants

Here's how student physical therapists use physical therapy assistants:

Directed and supervised physical therapy assistants and aids while efficiently providing instruction and monitoring patient outcomes and safety.
Delegated responsibilities to physical therapy assistants, physical therapy technicians, and certified athletic trainers.

6. Adaptive

Here's how student physical therapists use adaptive:

Instruct patients for using toileting, transferring and adaptive devices efficiently and conservatively.
Sharpened adaptive and clinical reasoning skills.

Choose from 10+ customizable student physical therapist resume templates

Build a professional student physical therapist resume in minutes. Our AI resume writing assistant will guide you through every step of the process, and you can choose from 10+ resume templates to create your student physical therapist resume.

7. Orthopedic Diagnoses

Here's how student physical therapists use orthopedic diagnoses:

Performed evaluations, treatments, developed patient-specific therapeutic exercise programs, scheduling, documenting and billing of orthopedic diagnoses.
Developed a new procedure to prescribe HEP for orthopedic diagnoses and post-surgical rehabilitation that is now utilized by clinicians.

8. Acute Care

The branch of secondary healthcare which is responsible for giving short-term care to patients recovering from severe injuries or urgent medical problems is known as acute care. Acute care comprises multiple domains like; emergency care, urgent care, short-term stabilization, pre-hospital care, critical care, and trauma care.

Here's how student physical therapists use acute care:

Participated in evaluation, intervention and individualized plan of care in acute care setting.
Provide assessment and treatment of patients in both acute care and hospital-affiliated outpatient clinic

9. Gait Training

Here's how student physical therapists use gait training:

Utilized robot-assisted gait training for neurologically involved populations.
Gained experience with body weight supported gait training, home assessment, family training, and complex discharge planning.

10. Traumatic Brain Injury

Here's how student physical therapists use traumatic brain injury:

Determined the appropriate discharge recommendation for patients with post-surgical orthopedic injuries, joint replacements, stroke and traumatic brain injury.
Provided rehabilitative services at this 16 bed unit for patients with traumatic brain injury, stroke, and bilateral knee replacements.

11. Prosthetics

Here's how student physical therapists use prosthetics:

Provided restorative services for amputees and educated them on use of prosthetic.
Participated in amputee, brace and prosthetic clinics

12. CVA

Here's how student physical therapists use cva:

Treated patients with multiple co-morbidity status; cardiopulmonary, CVA, TBI, and orthopedics.
Experience in acute conditions, including CVA, MI, joint replacements, dementia.

13. Orthotics

Here's how student physical therapists use orthotics:

Instructed patients in care and use of wheelchairs, braces, crutches, canes, and orthotic devices.
Presented research on effectiveness of spinal orthotics to determine the need for spinal bracing in an acute-care setting.

14. Discharge Planning

Here's how student physical therapists use discharge planning:

Performed care-giver training for discharge planning and provided training to newly hired nursing staff regarding body-mechanics and safe patient transfers.
Performed evaluations, develop plan of cares, provide family/caregiver training, participate in discharge planning meetings

15. Patient Education

Here's how student physical therapists use patient education:

Improved clinic bulletin board for patient education and communicated closely with on-site Physicians in reference to patients.
Incorporated patient education into every treatment to emphasize safety, patient participation, and compliance.

5 Student Physical Therapist resume examples

Build a professional student physical therapist resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 5+ resume templates to create your student physical therapist resume.

Create my resume

Build a professional resume in minutes using this template.

What skills help Student Physical Therapists find jobs?

Tell us what job you are looking for, we’ll show you what skills employers want.

What skills stand out on student physical therapist resumes?

Jan Kretzschmar

Professor, King's College

The ability to motivate and work in a team.

What soft skills should all student physical therapists possess?

Jan Kretzschmar

Professor, King's College

The ability to empathize with patients and make them feel special.

What hard/technical skills are most important for student physical therapists?

Jan Kretzschmar

Professor, King's College

Anything related to assessments.

What student physical therapist skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?

Adrienne Pinckney PT, DPT, Cert. MDT

Clinical Education Team Member & Assistant Professor of Instruction, University of Delaware

Even in light of the pandemic, I believe that entry level physical therapists (DPTs) should avoid taking a gap year after graduation (unless extreme personal circumstances warrant this decision). Licensed physical therapists are essential healthcare workers and are critical to the spectrum of care and recovery of all patients with a myriad of conditions and injuries, including COVID-19. As such, although PTs may not find jobs in the healthcare setting of their top choice, they will not have trouble finding employment in the United States.

If an entry-level DPT has to take a gap year for whatever personal reason, I strongly recommend that they make every effort to seek out PT mentorship and remain connected to the PT world through trying to be physically present in some capacity in a PT/rehab setting (either as a volunteer, PT aide/tech in a facility, administrative support . . . something) or even in any type of facility related to health & wellness (fitness center, wellness center, etc.), in an effort to stay connected to patient care and exercise their observation, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills as a PT clinician. Taking a year off can be very detrimental to passing the National Physical Therapy Examination (NPTE), which is required for PT state licensure (if the individual doesn't take the exam immediately after graduation), as well as detrimental to their overall skill set as quality physical therapists.

Do you want to know more?

List of student physical therapist skills to add to your resume

The most important skills for a student physical therapist resume and required skills for a student physical therapist to have include:

Patients
Occupational Therapy
Rehabilitation
Patient Care
Physical Therapy Assistants
Adaptive
Orthopedic Diagnoses
Acute Care
Gait Training
Traumatic Brain Injury
Prosthetics
CVA
Orthotics
Discharge Planning
Patient Education
Therapeutic Exercises
ICU

Treatment Sessions
Cerebral Palsy
Functional Mobility
Inpatient Rehabilitation
Outcome Measures
Cervical
CI
Chronic Pain
Physical Therapy
Spinal Cord Injury
THA
Joint Mobilization
Traction
Assistive Devices
Electrical Stimulation
Developmental Delays
Bed Mobility

Orthopedic Injuries
Discharge Summaries
Discharge Recommendations
DPT
Manual Therapy Techniques
Patient Evaluations
COPD
TKA
Joint Replacements
Electronic Documentation
PTAs
Soft Tissue Mobilization
Medicare
Direct Supervision
SLP

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

Zippia Careers
Healthcare Practitioner and Technical Industry
Student Physical Therapist
Student Physical Therapist Skills

Updated January 8, 2025

Browse healthcare practitioner and technical jobs