Therapist vs student physical therapist

The differences between therapists and student physical therapists can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a student physical therapist has an average salary of $73,003, which is higher than the $55,943 average annual salary of a therapist.

The top three skills for a therapist include social work, patients and group therapy sessions. The most important skills for a student physical therapist are patients, occupational therapy, and rehabilitation.

Therapist vs student physical therapist overview

	Therapist	Student Physical Therapist
Yearly salary	$55,943	$73,003
Hourly rate	$26.90	$35.10
Growth rate	17%	17%
Number of jobs	159,770	92,101
Job satisfaction	5	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 47%	Bachelor's Degree, 76%
Average age	41	41
Years of experience	-	-

What does a therapist do?

A therapist is responsible for improving the patients' health conditions by evaluating their needs and providing physical and mental support. Therapists are licensed, medical professionals who specialize in different areas to perform treatments and bring relief to patients. Some of their duties include diagnosing patient's problems, performing counseling services, monitoring medication progress, customizing therapy activities for pain management, and consulting other health professionals as needed. Therapists must have extensive knowledge with the medical industry to detect patients' conditions easily and provide effective medications.

What does a student physical therapist do?

A student physical therapist assists physicians in handling patients in a medical facility or a similar setting. As students, they typically follow directives and work under the supervision of a physical therapist. Besides assisting in treating patients, a student may also perform various clerical tasks such as filing paperwork, producing reports, running errands, managing schedules, responding to inquiries, and answering calls and correspondence. They may also coordinate with other hospital personnel and attend meetings, all while adhering to the medical facility's policies and standards.

Therapist vs student physical therapist salary

Therapists and student physical therapists have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Therapist	Student Physical Therapist
Average salary	$55,943	$73,003
Salary range	Between $39,000 And $80,000	Between $54,000 And $97,000
Highest paying City	San Francisco, CA	-
Highest paying state	California	-
Best paying company	Childhelp	-
Best paying industry	Government	-

Differences between therapist and student physical therapist education

There are a few differences between a therapist and a student physical therapist in terms of educational background:

	Therapist	Student Physical Therapist
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 47%	Bachelor's Degree, 76%
Most common major	Psychology	Kinesiology
Most common college	California State University - Long Beach	Duke University

Therapist vs student physical therapist demographics

Here are the differences between therapists' and student physical therapists' demographics:

	Therapist	Student Physical Therapist
Average age	41	41
Gender ratio	Male, 24.4% Female, 75.6%	Male, 37.4% Female, 62.6%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 4.0% Unknown, 3.8% Hispanic or Latino, 7.9% Asian, 11.3% White, 72.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5%	Black or African American, 3.9% Unknown, 3.8% Hispanic or Latino, 7.8% Asian, 12.0% White, 72.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5%
LGBT Percentage	12%	12%

Differences between therapist and student physical therapist duties and responsibilities

Therapist example responsibilities.

Manage ventilator and BiPAP's and create or update care plans per patient needs.
Demonstrate working knowledge of community mental health services identify in the Medicaid guidelines and attain contractual outcomes within designate time frames.
Provide on-call crisis intervention as well as standard treatment, rehabilitation and support services with some interventions requiring specialize therapy services.
Develop and implement an effective curriculum of DBT inform group and art therapy classes specifically tailor for chemically dependent patients.
Provide trauma-inform individual psychotherapy, TREM group treatment protocol, and EMDR.
Utilize current brain base therapeutic techniques to teach clients adaptive skills to utilize in daily lives.

Student physical therapist example responsibilities.

Achieve high level of patients satisfaction due to sound clinical management, quality of care and compassion.
Evaluate and treat patients with total hip/total knee surgeries, status post CVA and spinal cord injuries.
Evaluate and treat patients with orthopedic conditions such as low back pain, cervical pain, post operative conditions.
Perform evaluations, provide patient treatment, supervise COTA
Develop ability to perform ICU mobility treatments with acutely ill patients.
Evaluate and treat patients in ICU implicating early mobilization to prevent further decline in cardiopulmonary compromise patients.

Therapist vs student physical therapist skills

Common therapist skills

Social Work, 23%
Patients, 12%
Group Therapy Sessions, 8%
Crisis Intervention, 7%
Mental Health, 4%
Patient Care, 3%

Common student physical therapist skills

Patients, 31%
Occupational Therapy, 13%
Rehabilitation, 8%
Patient Care, 6%
Physical Therapy Assistants, 6%
Adaptive, 4%

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Therapist
Therapist vs Student Physical Therapist

Updated January 8, 2025

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