What does a therapy aide do?
A therapy aide is responsible for monitoring and stabilizing the patients' condition by leading therapy sessions and recording the patients' progress for the doctor's reference. Therapy aides administer quality care plans according to the patients' medical findings and treatment options. They also operate various therapy equipment and machinery, requiring them to inspect the tools regularly to avoid potential hazards and therapy operations delays. A therapy aide must have an excellent understanding of the medical industry to discuss therapy procedures and respond to the patients' inquiries and concerns accurately.
Therapy aide responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real therapy aide resumes:
- Assist in implementing clinical treatment programs using ABA (apply behavior analysis).
- Prepare patients for physical therapy treatment by welcoming, comforting, providing and/or assisting patient into physical therapy apparel.
- Require the physical ability and training to conduct CPR.
- Fabricate and modify splints according to Dr. Gupta's specifications.
- Perform wound care, remove sutures, and help the therapists in fabricating custom make orthotic splints.
- Collect data on client's achievements for the purpose of documenting activities, preparing reports and/or updating IEP logs.
- Participate in the development of IEP's, and the development of an ongoing treatment approach to ensure student success.
- Provide assistance to physical and occupational therapists at a therapy gym in a rehabilitation facility.
- Monitor patients for effective physical exercise and monitor certain ROM exercises under physical therapist direction.
- Assist physical therapists, occupational therapist, and therapy aide in operational functions of rehabilitation center.
- Demonstrate strong crisis management skills by counseling agitate clients; promote positive relationships between developmentally disable patients and the community.
- Perform bladder scans and assist with catheter insertion and dressing changes as needed by the nurse.
- Aid with activities of daily living, train to administer straight catheters, as well as bowel care.
- Familiarize and comply with all state and federal laws including OSHA and HIPAA.
- Comply with HIPAA confidentiality regulations.
Therapy aide skills and personality traits
We calculated that 28% of Therapy Aides are proficient in Patients, Patient Care, and Rehabilitation. They’re also known for soft skills such as Physical strength, Compassion, and Detail oriented.
We break down the percentage of Therapy Aides that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Patients, 28%
Demonstrated strong crisis management skills by counseling agitated clients; promoted positive relationships between developmentally disabled patients and the community.
- Patient Care, 16%
Administered assigned rehabilitation plan, patient care and patient transport with PT supervision
- Rehabilitation, 16%
Assisted patients with rehabilitation programs * Revised programs according to therapist requests * Daily upkeep and maintenance of facility and therapy equipment
- BARS, 10%
grab bars, tub lifts, stair lifts)
- Physical Therapy, 5%
Provide physical therapy and occupational therapy treatment and training to residents, documenting individual treatment sessions.
- Occupational Therapy, 3%
Assisted with physical and occupational therapy under the direction of a licensed therapist.
Most therapy aides use their skills in "patients," "patient care," and "rehabilitation" to do their jobs. You can find more detail on essential therapy aide responsibilities here:
Physical strength. The most essential soft skill for a therapy aide to carry out their responsibilities is physical strength. This skill is important for the role because "assistants and aides need to have a moderate degree of strength because of the physical exertion required to assist patients." Additionally, a therapy aide resume shows how their duties depend on physical strength: "assist patients in the safe practice of activities related to the development of strength and endurance. "
Compassion. Another essential skill to perform therapy aide duties is compassion. Therapy aides responsibilities require that "occupational therapy assistants and aides frequently work with patients who struggle with many of life’s basic activities." Therapy aides also use compassion in their role according to a real resume snippet: "love ,kindness ,compassion, helping people get better"
Detail oriented. Another skill that relates to the job responsibilities of therapy aides is detail oriented. This skill is critical to many everyday therapy aide duties, as "occupational therapy assistants and aides must quickly and accurately follow the instructions, both written and spoken, of an occupational therapist." This example from a resume shows how this skill is used: "assist patients in detailed exercise routines necessary for strengthening of the hand, elbow, and wrist. "
Interpersonal skills. For certain therapy aide responsibilities to be completed, the job requires competence in "interpersonal skills." The day-to-day duties of a therapy aide rely on this skill, as "occupational therapy assistants and aides spend much of their time interacting with patients and therefore should be friendly and courteous." For example, this snippet was taken directly from a resume about how this skill applies to what therapy aides do: "observed the work of certified dpts developed further understanding of rehabilitation exercises expanded interpersonal skill through working one-on-one with patients. "
The three companies that hire the most therapy aides are:
- Select Medical31 therapy aides jobs
- RWJBarnabas Health17 therapy aides jobs
- Sanford Health9 therapy aides jobs
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Compare different therapy aides
Therapy aide vs. Rehabilitation technician
A rehabilitation technician is responsible for assisting therapists and other medical personnel on supporting the patients in their daily activities and physical therapy sessions. Rehabilitation technicians provide high-quality care services for the patients by administering medications, accompanying them on medical appointments, and ensuring the cleanliness and orderliness of all equipment and facilities to prevent hazards within the premises. They may also perform administrative and clerical duties such as updating patients' information on the database, writing reports, processing payments for medical procedures, and maintaining medical charts for reference.
There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, therapy aide responsibilities require skills like "patient care," "bars," "parallel bars," and "home health." Meanwhile a typical rehabilitation technician has skills in areas such as "customer service," "rehabilitation services," "direct patient care," and "patient transport." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.
Rehabilitation technicians tend to make the most money working in the health care industry, where they earn an average salary of $30,968. In contrast, therapy aides make the biggest average salary, $29,780, in the health care industry.rehabilitation technicians tend to reach similar levels of education than therapy aides. In fact, rehabilitation technicians are 0.9% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.2% more likely to have a Doctoral Degree.Therapy aide vs. Rehab technician
A rehab technician's role is to assist physical therapists and patients in a hospital or similar facility. Typically, their responsibilities revolve around gathering a patient's personal information and medical history, escorting them to corresponding rooms, and conducting initial tests and assessments. It is also essential to maintain records of all transactions, updating medical accounts promptly and accurately. Furthermore, a rehab technician may also perform basic treatments under the supervision of a physical therapist. There are also instances when they have to sanitize and clean therapy equipment, all in adherence to the facility's safety regulations and policies.
In addition to the difference in salary, there are some other key differences worth noting. For example, therapy aide responsibilities are more likely to require skills like "patient care," "autism," "therapy services," and "mental illness." Meanwhile, a rehab technician has duties that require skills in areas such as "customer service," "taking care," "clerical tasks," and "acute care." These differences highlight just how different the day-to-day in each role looks.
Rehab technicians earn a lower average salary than therapy aides. But rehab technicians earn the highest pay in the health care industry, with an average salary of $29,851. Additionally, therapy aides earn the highest salaries in the health care with average pay of $29,780 annually.rehab technicians earn similar levels of education than therapy aides in general. They're 3.2% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.2% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Therapy aide vs. Occupational rehabilitation aide
There are many key differences between these two careers, including some of the skills required to perform responsibilities within each role. For example, a therapy aide is likely to be skilled in "patients," "patient care," "rehabilitation," and "bars," while a typical occupational rehabilitation aide is skilled in "tbi," "adaptive," "icu," and "otr/l."
Occupational rehabilitation aides typically earn similar educational levels compared to therapy aides. Specifically, they're 2.2% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.8% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Therapy aide vs. Rehabilitation aide/scheduler
Types of therapy aide
Updated January 8, 2025
